New Disney Plus pricing + password sharing crackdown [UPDATED]
Disney Plus announces a new premium subscription plan for Australia, and an email to customers hints strongly at another major change.
As Disney Plus users in Australia are being emailed that their 'subscriber agreement' will be receiving an update soon, new plans and pricing for the streaming service also get announced.
The email mentions that "with the launch of Service Tiers, features, pricing and other elements of the service may differ between tiers".
It further goes on to highlight that Disney Plus is "reflecting limitations on account sharing and the definition of 'household'."
The new subscriber agreement comes into effect on 4 March 2024, with the new plans taking effect from 5 March 2024.
The new subscriber agreement is pretty straightforward regarding password sharing.
"Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household," it states.
New Disney Plus plans and pricing in Australia
Alongside the update of the subscriber agreement, Disney Plus is also launching new plans and pricing.
Currently, there is only 1 option available in Australia.
But from 5 March 2024, there will be 2 ways to subscribe to Disney Plus.
Here's a breakdown of what the plans will look like.
| Disney+ Standard | Disney+ Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Monthly: $13.99, Annual: $139.99 | Monthly: $17.99, Annual: $179.99 |
| Video quality | Up to 1080p Full HD video | Up to 4K UHD & HDR video |
| Audio | Up to 5.1 audio | Up to Dolby Atmos audio |
| Concurrent streams | 2 | 4 |
While the Standard plan costs the same as an existing Disney Plus subscription, you will now only get access to 2 streams and HD definition.
If you want to keep watching Disney Plus in 4K and have up to 4 simultaneous streams like you can currently, you'll have to pay an extra $4 a month.
Both plans will have annual payment options available at a discount.
Until 4 March 2024, new, eligible returning, and existing monthly subscribers can lock in a year of Disney Plus (known as Disney Plus Premium from 5 March 2024) for $139.99.
Bottom line
Streaming services have been overhauling their plans since last year so none of this comes as a surprise.
Neither do the hints of a password-sharing crackdown.
At an earnings report in August 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger said they were "actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family".
The move will likely affect a lot of Australians. According to Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker data, Disney Plus is the streaming service that ranks number 2 for people sharing their passwords.
Disney Plus seems to be following in Netflix's footsteps after the streaming giant cracked down on password sharing back in May 2023.
Lastly, despite the updated subscriber agreement mentioning "ad-free" plans, this isn't being introduced in Australia just yet.
Update: We updated this story at 6pm AEDT, Monday 22 January with details on the new Disney Plus plans now they have been officially announced.
Check out what's currently streaming on Disney Plus Australia with our guide to all its TV shows and movies.