Disney To Viewers: Pay More Or Watch Ads

Disney+ is joining rival streaming services by giving customers a choice between price hikes and watching ads. It’s a surprise move given the company’s history with a family audience.

The overhaul of pricing, which takes effect in December, means that customers who do nothing will continue to pay $7.99 but will now start seeing ads. The other option is to switch to an ad-free tier of $10.99 a month, or $109.99 as an annual payment. (There’ll no longer be an option to get an annual payment discount on the standard tier.)

It’s part of a range of price hikes from Disney including:

  • Hulu with ads: $6.99 rising to $7.99.
  • Hulu without ads: $12.99 up to $14.99
  • Disney Plus (Hulu with ads, Disney+ without ads, ESPN+): $13.99 up to $14.99.

Disney Plus Premium (Hulu without ads, Disney + without ads, ESPN+) remains at $19.99.

The big unanswered questions now are how seamlessly the ads will be inserted (eg automatically or at logical breaks) and whether they’ll be included in programming directly aimed at children. Historically Disney has been wary about showing ads (other than for its own products) to children, for example avoiding them on its cable TV channel.

While it’s almost certainly just a coincidence, the announcement of the price hike comes right at the point Disney Plus overtook Netflix’s subscriber total, with 221 million to 220.7 million.

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How Quinine May Have Caused World War One

If we look at how the bark of the cinchona tree is used to treat malaria, we can see cutting edge chemistry showing quinine binding to an enzyme that is essential for the malaria parasite’s survival. But if we look from another angle, we can see how that coincidental affinity may have been a major contributing factor to World War One.

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Vibrating Screen Creates ‘5.1’ Sound

LG has demonstrated what it calls the first TV set to offer 5.1 audio without any speakers. It comes with a vibrating screen and an eyewatering price tag.

The idea of the screen itself producing the sound is not new. Sony already offers it in one model, while LG has used the technology on both a smartphone and a bendable 48-inch panel.

The LG version uses “Cinematic Sound OLED” which involves a thin magnetic film behind the screen. Rapidly switching the magnets on and off causes the screen to vibrate and emit sound.

The difference with the new set is that it doesn’t just do stereo, but rather uses a 5.1 channel system. LG notably uses the term “cinematic level of immersion” rather than the traditional 5.1 phrase “surround sound” though how well it can create that immersive effect when all the sound originates from one direction remains to be seen.

The key to getting the distinct “channels” of sound is likely the screen size: 97 inches. Most viewing calculators don’t cover screens that big, but you’d probably want about 15 feet between you and the screen to get the most out of it. It’s also scheduled to cost around $25,000.

The rich folk with big living rooms will no doubt keep the rest of us up to date on how well the technology works day to day. The problem may be that even if it does live up to the hype, the 5.1 channel element may not work as well when scaled down to smaller screen.