Jordan O'BrienDisney is now offering its vast catalogue of movies, TV shows, music and more to the over 26m households in the UK via an online streaming service dubbed DisneyLife – a first for the House of Mouse.
DisneyLife is a Netflix-like service which lets families of up to six people stream Disney movies, TV shows and even music, audiobooks and e-books over the Internet to their mobile devices or TV.
While Smart TV manufacturers have yet to release a DisneyLife App, the service can be beamed to a user’s TV via Apple’s AirPlay technology or using Google’s Chromecast.
Right now the service is exclusive to the UK, but Disney has revealed that it has plans to roll the service out to other European markets in due course. US Disney fans will be out of luck however – as the company has yet to reveal plans for a DisneyLife launch stateside.
DisneyLife is the company’s latest attempt to have complete control over its content. Disney already has agreements in place with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Sky in the UK – but with DisneyLife, the company can now market directly to consumers.
While Disney classics such as The Lion King, Dumbo and The Little Mermaid are all present; Disney is also leveraging its other brands which include Marvel, Pixar and, of course, Star Wars.
To tempt users away from Netflix however, Disney is keen to offer more than just TV shows and movies. In fact, DisneyLife has an unprecedented amount of content. It includes a whole range of e-books, music from Disney’s music labels, which includes artists such as Demi Lovato alongside film soundtrack, and a free App each month.
Disney says that there are hundreds of films available at launch, which includes both Disney and Pixar titles, over 5,000 songs, including those from the likes of Frozen and Toy Story, and over 2,000 TV episodes.
Unlike Netflix, DisneyLife will also allow users to download content for offline playback; ideal for that flight to one of Disney’s many parks around the world.
Parents will also have control over what and when their children consume content thanks to a robust parental controls feature.
DisneyLife is being offered to consumers for £9.99 per month. A 30 day free trial is available for those wanting to give the service a try before they buy.