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       Disney says it's 'heartened' by results of Netflix's password-sharing
       crackdown
        
 (HTM) Source
        
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       Disney has expressed excitement over Netflix's password-sharing
       crackdown.
        
       In a May 7th earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company is
       "quite bullish" about the opportunities presented by such a move, via
       . "Obviously, we're heartened by the results that Netflix has
       delivered in their password-sharing initiative and believe that will
       be one of the contributors to growth, as [CFO Hugh Johnston] noted
       going forward," said Iger.
        
       While Netflix's terms of service had always prohibited password-
       sharing, the company didn't formally start enforcing it until February
       2023. At that time, subscribers had to begin paying $7.99/month to let
       people outside of their households access their accounts. Netflix has
       previously said 100 million users were sharing accounts, so the
       crackdown is intended to turn at least some of those people into
       subscribers.
        
       However, many people reported in the following months that others who
       were using their accounts hadn't yet been kicked out. (For what it's
       worth, my grandparents were finally locked out of my Netflix account
       last month, more than one year after the streamer said it was cracking
       down on the practice. As a result, I was forced to pay $7.99/month to
       allow them to continue using my account.)
        
       Despite the seemingly inconsistent enforcement of the policy, it would
       seem that the mere threat of the crackdown has led more users to
       subscribe. Last year, the company said it was "pleased with the
       results" of its password-sharing crackdown in Canada and that
       subscriber growth increased following the announcement. It later
       expanded the crackdown to the U.S. and other international markets.
        
       Therefore, Disney is clearly encouraged by all of this. For context,
       _Bloomsberg Intelligence_ that Disney+ has 50 million password
       borrowers out of over 150 million subscribers, 20 million of whom
       could be converted into paying members following a crackdown.
        
       Disney also officially began cracking down on password-sharing in
       Canada in November, although it's unclear if it's actually locked
       anyone out of their accounts. (None of the _MobileSyrup_ team has been
       affected yet.) Disney may be following Netflix's suit and testing the
       waters before more heavily enforcing the account restriction.
        
       In the earnings call, Disney said it will expand the crackdown to the
       U.S. in June and other markets in September, meaning they'll have to
       pay an additional fee to share their accounts. However, pricing has
       yet to be confirmed.
        
       Are you a Netflix or Disney+ user and have been locked out of free
       password sharing? Let us know in the comments.
        
       _Image credit: Disney_
        
       Source: The Hollywood Reporter
        
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