Blame Canada: Disney+ Follows Netflix’s Lead and Starts Cracking Down on Password-Sharing
Disney+ will start cracking down on password-sharing in Canada on November 1. Netflix did the same thing in the United States and other territories in an attempt to reclaim lost revenue due to users sharing passwords with people outside of their immediate households.
As reported by MobileSyrup, Disney+ sent an email to its Canadian subscribers on Tuesday with updates to its subscriber agreement. The new restrictions coincide with the launch of Disney+'s ad-supported tier. A new “account sharing” section of the agreement reads:
“Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household. ‘Household' means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein. Additional usage rules may apply for certain Service Tiers.
“We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement. If we determine that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement (including those set forth in Section 6 of this Agreement).
“You will be responsible for any use of your account by your household, including compliance with this section.”
Netflix Is the First Major Streaming Service to Restrict Password-Sharing
Netflix went worldwide with its password-sharing crackdown in July. In some regions, such as the United States and Canada, for an additional fee, users can add a subaccount for members in their household who live outside the primary residence associated with the account. In a statement, Netflix said, “In these markets, we’re not offering an extra member option given that we’ve recently cut prices in a good number of these countries (for example, Indonesia, Croatia, Kenya, and India), and penetration is still relatively low in many of them so we have plenty of runway without creating additional complexity. Households borrowing Netflix will be able to transfer existing profiles to new and existing accounts.”
It's not clear if Disney+ will offer a subaccount option to Canadian subscribers who wish to add users to their accounts who live outside of their primary households. What is becoming apparent is that the practice of sharing streaming services — for example, one person has Disney+, one has Netflix, and another has Hulu and everyone shares the services with each other so all three people don't have to subscribe to each service — is coming to an end.
Disney and Netflix may have found a way to force every individual who uses their services to pay for their own account, but it remains to be seen how many people will actually fork over cash for every streaming service. Instead of each person paying for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Max, and AppleTV+ — wishful thinking on Netflix and Disney's part — the move could inspire consumers to make more selective choices regarding subscriptions. Instead of paying for eight streamers every month, maybe they'll do one month with Netflix and Disney+ and another month with something else, depending on available content. Suddenly, “cutting the cord” doesn't seem like such a hassle-free solution to rising cable TV and content costs.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
