A week before Dallas-based AT&T unveils its new streaming service, wireless rival Verizon is ratcheting up the pressure.
Verizon announced Tuesday that it will offer customers a year of Disney's streaming service, Disney+, for free. All new and existing Verizon wireless customers with unlimited plans are eligible for the offer, as well as those with Verizon home internet.
From legacy players like AT&T to tech companies like Amazon and Apple, companies are chasing customers as they cut cable and stream TV shows and movies instead. Verizon, however, has largely stayed on the sidelines as rival AT&T became a media and entertainment-focused conglomerate. AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015, launched its first streaming service in 2016 and closed its acquisition of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) in 2018.
With the Disney+ offer to customers, Verizon is making a big play in the streaming wars.
Verizon could give Disney+ millions of additional subscribers as the streaming service enters a crowded field. Disney+ will launch Nov. 12.
Disney+ It will feature movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. It will compete with subscription services like Netflix and AT&T's forthcoming service, HBO Max, but stand out with its lower price. It'll cost $6.99 a month. Netflix costs $12.99 a month. And AT&T's HBO Max, which will be available to the public next spring, is expected to cost $16 to $17 a month, according to The Wall Street Journal. AT&T hasn't announced the price yet.
AT&T will show off and share details about its new streaming service, HBO Max, at an analyst event Oct. 29 at Warner Bros. Studios in California. It will be anchored by HBO content and other TV shows and movies from WarnerMedia.
AT&T has another streaming service, AT&T TV Now, but it's losing subscribers. The subscription service has a cable-like lineup of live TV channels, but without a long-term contract or cable box. It launched in late 2016 as DirecTV Now and grew to nearly 1.9 million customers. For the past three quarters, however, subscribers have dropped off. It had 1.3 million subscribers as of late July.
This week, AT&T said it's raising the price of AT&T TV Now by $10 to $15 a month, depending on customers' packages.
Verizon's deal with Disney+ is also a threat to Netflix, the dominant player in the world of streaming. Netflix has about 60 million subscribers in the U.S. and over 158 million in the world. It reported a strong third quarter last week, with the addition of 6.8 million new customers. But in the second quarter it reported a decline of 126,000 subscribers in the U.S., its first losses in eight years.
Netflix is losing two of its most popular shows. NBCUniversal will remove The Office from Netflix and put it on its own streaming service, Peacock, in 2021. AT&T has exclusive rights to stream Friends with the launch of HBO Max.
Along with Disney+ and HBO Max, Apple is launching Apple TV+ on Nov. 1 for $4.99 a month. It will include original TV shows, movies and documentaries _ including The Morning Show, a new sitcom that stars Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, and a show that features Oprah Winfrey in conversation with authors.
In a recent earnings call, Netflix's leaders said they'll keep up a key part of their strategy: pouring billions of dollars into original content.
