Disney’s streaming service will start cracking down on password-sharing in June, chief executive Bob Iger said on Thursday, as the entertainment conglomerate looks to boost subscriber growth and profitability at the business.
Iger also said there was a need for some consolidation in the streaming industry and Disney was eventually looking at double-digit margins in streaming in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC.
When asked about the password crackdown, Iger said it will launch in June in “just a few countries in a few markets, but then it will grow significantly with a full rollout in September.”
CBC News has reached out to Disney about how this will affect Canadian customers, although password-sharing has already been at least somewhat restricted here.
In an email sent to users in Canada in September, Disney announced restrictions on Canadian subscribers’ “ability to share your account or login credentials outside of your household.”
Disney’s updated Canadian Subscriber Agreement says users cannot share a subscription outside their household unless permitted by their account tier — noting that violations could lead to Disney+ limiting or terminating service.
“Household” covers the collection of devices associated with a subscriber’s primary residence and used by the individuals who live there, per the streamer’s help centre.
Disney+ also recently launched an ad-backed tier for Canadian customers while making ad-free plans more expensive.
As of Monday, Amazon Prime Video will become the latest company to add commercials to its TV shows and movies — unless consumers are prepared to pay more.
Investors back Iger
The interview came just a day after Disney investors backed Iger and other company directors, defeating a campaign by activist investors including Nelson Peltz, who argued that Disney had underperformed in the streaming-television era.
“The proxy vote was a decisive, true endorsement of the board,” Iger said, playing down criticisms of the activist investors and saying that the company was focused on succession — one of the major tasks facing the board of Disney.
Asked about criticism from billionaire Elon Musk, who had backed Peltz in the proxy battle, Iger said: “I ignore it.”