Variety’s announcement that Disney+ will launch at $6.99 feels like the moment the streaming wars officially turned into a real competition. Up until now, everyone more or less orbiting Netflix. Then Disney showed up with a decades-deep content vault, a sharp price point, and the confidence of a brand that can drop a single Marvel logo and call it marketing.
What’s interesting isn’t the price – it’s the strategy. Disney isn’t just launching a service. They’re reorganizing their entire relationship with audiences. Instead of licensing their crown jewels to other platforms, they’re building a home for them. It’s a simple idea that somehow took a decade of disruption to execute.
The move forces every other streamer to rethink what they’re actually offering. Is it convenience? Original content? Nostalgia? Something else entirely? Disney+ doesn’t answer those questions, but it definitely makes them harder to ignore.
If streaming is becoming the new cable bundle, how many subscriptions will people tolerate before the cycle repeats? And who wins when every media company tries to build its own walled garden?
Related article: Variety
