Disney Concerned About New UK Streamer Laws for Disney+

According to Deadline, Disney has concerns that new laws in the UK will require it to send notices for contract renewals for Disney+ users, allowing them to “game” without paying for the streaming service.

What’s Happening:

Disney is concerned that new laws in the UK will require it to send contract renewal notices to those who subscribe to Disney+.
The worry is that this will allow customers to “game” the service without paying for it.
It was said that the UK government’s draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill was attempting to “micro-manage the way subscription streamers interact with their customers.”
The way it currently is, it requires streamers to send reminder notices every six months to customers to make them aware that they are still subscribed to the streaming platform.
Disney has said it already provides “timely and clear notice” of the recurring fee and makes it easy for users to cancel their subscription.
They have also added increased email notices, which could be counterproductive, since users may be more likely to ignore notices that they receive.
Disney requested that the UK government limit the reminder notices to sectors that have a track record of “attempting to trap their consumers.” This “obviously does not apply to SVODs,” it added.
Disney is concerned about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill’s effort to have a 14-day cooling off period for digital subscription services. This would allow users to withdraw their subscription within two weeks and doing so would not pay for the service.
Disney said that this would allow people to subscribe, binge watch all the content they want and then cancel.
They warned this could be a price hike for all of the loyal customers.

What They’re Saying:

In a submission to the Lords Communications and Digital Committee, Disney said: “The combination of the market imperatives, consumer preferences, our practice of providing timely and clear notice of the recurring fee and the ease of terminating the agreement should obviate the need for mandated renewal notices. At a minimum, it obviates the need for the micromanaging of how and when these notices should be sent, which is a serious flaw in the draft bill that fails to recognise that it could lead to consumer’s ignoring notices.”
“This would allow these bad actors to benefit from our service without compensation to the detriment of the vast majority of good actors as it could likely result in a price increase given the reduction in the subscriber base and the high cost of producing high-quality content,” it said.
The UK government’s Department for Business & Trade said: “Our new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will boost competition in online markets that are currently dominated by a small number of firms – delivering on our commitment to grow the economy by increasing consumer choice and accelerating innovation.”