Disney + Basic, a cheaper version of the 3-year-old streaming service, has officially gone live. Today’s launch of the $8-a-month offering marks a turning point in the larger streaming race, leaving Apple TV+ — for now — as the only major player without commercial interruptions.
When once-and-current Disney CEO Bob Iger and his senior team began making a series of moves years ago to prepare for the push into streaming, the template was Netflix, which avidly insisted for years it would never sell ads.
Now, while Netflix remains the global leader with 223 million subscribers, it faces intense competition and Co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos have publicly lamented that the company dithered before finally launching their own ad-supported effort last month.
Apple, meanwhile, has been exploring a less expensive tier with ads (an option HBO Max, Paramount+ and Peacock all have, while the sports push by Amazon’s Prime Video has turned it into a streaming-ad heavyweight).
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