Nowadays, we have a huge number of on-demand content platforms that allow us to access series and movies whenever we want. Lately, these platforms are changing their usage policies to improve their profitability. The latest has been Disney+who announces that will not allow account sharing and also, will add advertising regardless of the plan we have subscribed to.
We currently have platforms such as Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ or HBO Max, among others, to watch movies and series online. The positive side of these platforms is that illegal access to content has plummeted, but not everything is pretty.
Having all these platforms can cost you more than 100 euros a month. In addition, the quality of the content has been falling, while the plans and restrictions have increased. The latest addition by many platforms is the restriction on sharing accounts with people outside the home.
No possibility of sharing Disney+ outside the home
Disney+ has just announced changes to the policies of its streaming platform. The update prevents sharing an account with people who do not live in the same household. In addition, they are considering including advertising in all current plans without exception.
The first restriction, that of sharing an account, is something that Netflix has begun to implement. Only those linked devices belonging to the same household will be able to access it. If access is detected from a device not linked to the habitual residence, the account could be blocked.
This change is already included in the platform’s service policies for Spain, something that Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a few months ago.
It has, like Netflix, the capacity of a “Extra Access» for people outside the home, increasing the subscription price. Disney has already sent a message to Spanish users announcing this change in its policies. In addition, it also reports that it intends to add advertising to its subscription plans.
Ads to watch your series and movies
The platform currently has three subscription options. The cheapest is the so-called “Standard with ads” which costs 5.99 euros per month and was the only one to always include ads. Meanwhile, the Standard version (8.99 euros per month) and the Premium version (11.99 euros per month) were free of ads. However, these two plans will start to receive ads from the company itself and from third parties.
While limiting access to devices outside the home has been annoying, what has angered users the most is the addition of advertising. Many are angry because they paid more precisely to avoid having to deal with advertising. At the moment, there is no advertisement for a most expensive plan without adssomething that probably won’t happen.
We see how the big companies always do and undo as they please. They copy the worst of the telecommunications companies, which raise prices whenever they want. Surely on more than one occasion you have found that your operator increases the price based on a service improvement that you have not requested. In the end we end up swallowing it, since there is not much else to do, especially if you have a contract.