Disney+ Launches Broad Password-Sharing Crackdown, Offers Paid ‘Extra Member’ Option

As a seasoned movie lover who has experienced the joy of sharing Disney magic with friends and family across different households, I must say, this latest move by Disney to crack down on password-sharing feels akin to Scrooge McDuck snatching away my beloved Mickey Mouse plushie.

Disney, like Netflix, has expanded a strategy to encourage password-sharing Disney+ users to become regular subscribers by introducing this service more broadly.

This week, Disney+ has started notifying its subscribers about the expansion of their paid-sharing features. This means that users can now legally share Disney+ access with relatives or acquaintances who were previously utilizing their account without proper authorization within their household.

Disney+’s premium sharing functions have been rolled out to users in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, across Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific area following their introduction in certain regions during the summer months.

Disney+ is designed for use within your household, defined as devices connected to the main home where you live. If you’re not a resident of that house, you’ll need to create your own account and pay the subscription fee, or become an additional user on someone else’s account for an extra monthly charge to keep streaming Disney+.

In the United States, an extra user profile comes with additional costs: $6.99 monthly for basic Disney+ subscribers and $9.99 monthly for premium ones. However, each account can only have one extra user profile, and this feature isn’t accessible to those who subscribe through Disney Bundle or third-party partners. Users can transfer an eligible profile to a new subscription or maintain the watch history and settings of an existing one when it becomes an extra user profile.

When traveling away from home, users of Disney+ can still access their service. If you come across a message saying “This TV doesn’t seem to be part of the Household for this account,” you can mark yourself as “Away from Home” or update your household location if you’ve recently moved and need to change the location for your Disney+ subscription. To log in under these circumstances, you will receive a one-time passcode sent to the email address associated with your account.

Disney is planning to implement stricter measures against password sharing for Hulu and ESPN+. In preparation for this, they previously informed U.S. subscribers about modifications in their terms of service that prohibit users from sharing their login details with anyone not residing at their primary residence on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ platforms.

Based on the revised terms for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ subscriptions, it’s generally not allowed to share your subscription with anyone outside of the households where the associated devices are primarily used by residents. In other words, these agreements consider a household as the group of devices linked to the main personal residence that are utilized by those who live there.

“We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement,” the updated terms say. “If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement.”

Netflix’s strategy to prevent unauthorized account sharing has shown positive results: Executives from the company attribute the increase in subscribers to the broad anti-password-sharing policy, which was implemented last year across over 100 countries. Warner Bros. Discovery has announced its intention to introduce a similar measure this year to tackle password sharing.

2024-09-25 20:47

Disney+ Launches Broad Password-Sharing Crackdown, Offers Paid ‘Extra Member’ Option

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