In this What's On Disney Plus Podcast episode, Roger discusses some of today's biggest Disney+ news, including:
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Coming up, I'm only talking about how Netflix just doesn't want to team up with Disney Plus. Also, a major problem for Descendants, plus a new David Ambrose series, all that and more coming up in today's Disney Plus News. Make sure you do hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest. Hi, it's Roger here from what's on at DisneyPlus.com and time to jump in from today's Disney Plus News. Let's start off with some bad news. Now, there are some major technical difficulties all over the world right now. We got TV channels down, airports are down, train services, all kinds of crazy stuff with Microsoft not working properly. Thankfully, I'm on a Mac, so I'm fine today. I don't know what this is really bad. It's just we shouldn't be at a point where one computer system takes everything down. Nevertheless, there has been a problem on Disney Plus, but not with everything. Not all of them, you can still get in, still do all of that. The problem is Descendants, the rise of red is not available on Disney Plus as of the time of recording. That's right. I've had a lot of people comment today. They can't find it. It's not on there. Apparently, there is an error. Therefore, there has been some glitch or they've taken it down just to kind of fix whatever it is to put it back up again. I'm so expected to be back up and running as soon as possible. These things sometimes do happen. They have had to do them in the past. But don't worry, this is not a long-term thing. This is a temporary glitch. Simply truth is, this has been a huge hit for Disney. When they added it on to Disney Plus last week, over the first three days, it was the most watched Disney Channel original movie they've launched on Disney Plus. 6.7 million views worldwide. This is a huge, huge hit. It's not being available. Hopefully, they're going to up pretty soon. It could be up by the time you're watching this. But yeah, just to know that it's temporary. It's not a full removal like Willow or anything like that. This is just a temporary glitch and there's got nothing to do with the Microsoft situation because ultimately, if it was, it would all be down. But yeah, so Disney Plus doesn't obviously run on that Microsoft system. But I think it's Amazon, actually. But nevertheless, just so be aware that if you can't watch the Descendants movie, which would probably not be a good thing for this weekend, but hopefully, it'll be up and running pretty soon. Chifting gears now, it's still quite a brand new documentary that is currently going by the working title of David Edinburgh Ocean. So National Geographic is putting together this documentary. It's set to come out in cinemas in 2025 before eventually hitting Disney Plus and Hulu around the world. And this one sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun and really interesting because David Edinburgh, to me, is the go-to person. If you want to make a natural documentary about Earth, you bring him in for narration. He is an amazing, all the stuff that he's done on the BBC. To me, he is the gold standard. Nothing really pretty much matches what he does. I've seen so many of the natural geographic stuff. And it's just like his voice just does it so much better. And the way he does it was tone and stuff. This documentary will be taking a look at how we've got to try and improve, how everything works in terms of interconnected waters. After nearly 100 years of filming every aspect of natural world, Edinburgh delivers his most powerful message yet. In this feature-length special, he draws on his lifetime of knowledge and experience to take us on a journey of wonder through the planet's most spectacular undersea habitats revealing that we currently living in the greatest age of ocean discovery and showing without doubt that it is the most important place on Earth. And while Edinburgh exposes the biggest problem facing our ocean, his story is one of hope and that it's in front of us as an opportunity for marine life to recover on the scale no one in the line has seen so far. Now, someone that does love the ocean, live near it, definitely kind of will feel this sort of story of, you know, we've got to work better, we're going to use technology and stuff to try and get things done and just, you know, make mess, mess, mess, mess, make pollution and just kind of make the world better. We have the technology, we just have to kind of start doing it. And yeah, hopefully this documentary will do it. But I think I'm teaming up with National Geographic and David Attenborough, he's just fantastic in what he does. I can't wait to see this one here. I think this one's going to be a big highlight when it drops on to Disney Plus and whoo. Let me know if you're excited about this one in the comments below. Shifting gears now, let's not talk about Netflix. They have their quarterly financial results yesterday. They were able to add loads, millions of new subscribers. They're just on a roll. They are just storming ahead. They're ahead in the game, you know, they've got more subscribers than anyone. They're profitable. They are just the king of streaming and Disney are trying to catch them up. But right now, we're seeing lots of companies trying to come together, trying to bundle their platforms with different things. We're seeing Disney Plus teaming up with Max later this year. We see them teaming up with mobile providers, cable providers, banks, all kinds of stuff to try and get us to have these bundles. And a lot of the studios as well are trying to recreate the bundles because they quite like the system that the US cable had where you're paid for it, whether you're onto it or not, they kind of want to get these bundles back together. But Netflix is not so keen on this. But to go alongside the release of the latest quarterly results, Netflix actually released a letter to shareholders where they addressed the idea of bundling Netflix with other streaming services like Disney Plus. They went on to say from the early days of streaming, we saw partnerships with device makers and pay TV and mobile operators as a key to ensuring Netflix was easy to find and use. These partnerships are a win-win, making it simple for people to discover, sign in, use and pay for Netflix. In turn, our device and operating partners benefit from increased device sales from consumers seeking devices integrated with Netflix and greater customer acquisition and higher retention as well as an opportunity to upsell, value data and content packages. We have a bundled Netflix solely with other streamers like Disney Plus or Max because Netflix already operates as the go-to destination for entertainment thanks to our breadth and variety of our slate and superior product experience. This has driven industry-leading penetration, engagement and retention for us which limits the benefits for Netflix to bundling directly with other streamers. This is the key thing. Netflix are basically turning around going, we're so big, we're the big guys, we don't need to team with anyone. There's no benefit from them teaming up with anyone, they just don't need it. We are seeing, as I said, cable providers and mobile providers putting these bundles together to try and get you to sign up to then internet packages because that's the key thing really. They are the gateway to get onto Netflix. If they offer you these bundles, you're going to take out their internet and if it's saves you some money as well because that's the other key thing as well. I think the idea of these different platforms all bundling together, some of them want to do it, Netflix. There's just not a lot of advantages to doing it. Remember back when Nelson Pouts his idea for saving ESPN was just go, "Why don't we just bundle it with Netflix?" They don't need it. They don't need all this stuff. They're the kings, they're at the top and Disney are trying to do their best to get there. Other, I definitely feel like Max and Warner Brothers are in that territory. If they're a partner with anyone to try and get some more money, they'll literally, I think Zazla will sell his grandmother to get more cash. Nevertheless, Disney and that are putting together this deal, where will not that continue to happen? I don't know. I still think it will do, but there's some info for issues which I want to get in on right now because our question is a day. But bubble trolling asks, "What will the split between Warner Brothers' discovery look like?" This is in reference to an issue right now with Warner Brothers' discovery where they got so it's depth when they merged together with Discovery Plus and pulling away from AT&T. Apparently, according to the Financial Times, they are looking at splitting the company into two, having one as the movie studio and the streaming platform, and then the other one being their linear television business, where the idea basically of putting all the debt on to the linear business. So this definitely is some creative accountancy. I mean, could we all not just do that? It's like, "Okay, I've got loads of debt, so I'm just going to create another copy of me, give them all my debt." And I will just carry on prancing about like I don't have to worry about. It's weird. It doesn't sound too good. Zazla wants more changes to, so they can do more things like this. Basically, he's trying to do one over it. I mean, that's the only way I can look at it. This is pure accountancy to try and leverage the linear business with as much debt as humanly possible, because that business is going down the pan slowly. And yeah, the streaming and the mood kind of give it a reset and move it apart. Yeah, to me, it feels like we're definitely moving around. Zazla has also been looking at partnering with Comcast, with Paramount. They are just looking for anyone. And that's why I'm a little bit doubtful of this whole bundle thing with Disney Plus and the future of venue sports, because I'm just not convinced that, I think like Paramount the way it is, I mean, they've just been kind of looks like they might sort themselves out with Sundance, but could easily see Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery kind of coming together and doing something. I just know, I'm just not convinced that Warner Bros., as we know, is still going to continue on. It's gone through so many changes and stuff, but it's an idea of splitting the company up into two. It just sounds a bit dodgy. This sounds a little bit dodgy of how they're trying to do this one, wherever not they do it. There's lots of different reports and stuff, but nevertheless, I'd love to know your thoughts on what's going on with Warner Bros. Discovery. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. I'm going to go check us out over at what's on DisneyPlus.com. Check out yesterday's video where we spoke about Doctor Who, and also keep a lookout for this coming Sunday's Q&A. I'll be live on Sunday for that one. On that note, guys, thank you very much. See you guys soon. Later. [music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
