If it becomes a trend, it could mean a whole new category of streaming video annoyances. The deal only lasts until Monday, which means you can’t wait and see whether the device limits will pose a problem before committing to what’s effectively a long-term streaming video contract.Īnd whether you’re subscribing to Disney+ or not, it’s worth keeping an eye on how its device limits work. If you sign up for the fan club by this Sunday night-even on the free tier-you can lock in three years of Disney+ for $141, which is 33 percent off the regular $70-per-year price. In any case, speculating about all this isn’t premature given that Disney is already selling subscriptions to D23 fan club members. Perhaps Disney+ will only require a fresh login on previously used devices after activating 10 others, or maybe the 10-device limit will just be an official number that the company seldom enforces. It’s also possible that I’m blowing all of this out of proportion, and Disney’s enforcement won’t be quite so strict. And that’s before everyone starts upgrading their iPhones and Xboxes to the latest hardware. (Among the perks of Disney+ is support for up to seven user profiles.) Activate a couple smart TVs or streaming boxes here, plus a game console there, and then throw in a family’s worth of phones, tablets, and laptops, and suddenly 10 authorizations doesn’t seem like a whole lot. The problem with this approach-or at least Disney’s 10-device limit in particular-is that it could easily be hit by a single household as well, especially with a service that caters to the entire family.
By contrast, strict device authorization limits might discourage subscribers from distributing their passwords at all, lest some distant cousin use up all your activations and keep you from watching The Mandalorian on your iPad. While these limits might not prevent friends or extended family from sharing access to a single account, they at least keep password sharing from getting out of control. HBO Now and Showtime both allow three streams at a time.
Hulu used to allow only one stream at a time, but now allows two, as do Amazon Prime Video and CBS All Access. Netflix, for instance, allows one, two, or four concurrent streams on its Basic (standard definition), Standard (HD), and Premium (Ultra HD) plans respectively. Limits on simultaneous streams are already commonplace among streaming video services. Let’s hope this isn’t the start of a draconian new trend in the fight against password sharing. For now, Disney isn’t saying what will happen if subscribers exceed the 10-device limit, but unless those users have an easy way to deactivate devices as well, the limit could easily become an annoyance even for legitimate customers in a single household.
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