Popular streaming site set for major change as crackdown on password sharing to stop 'freeloaders' announced
A major streaming platform is cracking down on password sharing.
Starting this September, you won't be able to share your account with family or friends.
Or, if you're the one who's been using someone else's account, it might be time to pay up or look for a new platform.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the change during an earnings call on Wednesday, saying it will start 'in earnest' this September.
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'Password-sharing is just starting to roll out,' said Hugh Johnston, Disney's chief financial officer.
'That's also going to be helpful in terms of driving growth. We've announced pricing and we feel good with all of the value that we're providing to consumers.'
The streaming giant first announced that password changing would be rolled out back in February.
Fast forward to June and a 'few countries' saw the launch of sharing accounts for an extra premium.
News of the change hasn't gone down well with users as some took to social media to vent their complaints.
'Thank you for banning password sharing, I'm going to save so much money cancelling all of my subscriptions. F*** all of you greedy corporations because you know where the money isn't going? to your employees,' one person said at the time.
'I wish these streaming services would realize that not every family lives in the same household,' another person wrote.
Although, Iger clearly hasn't been paying attention as he said himself: 'We’ve had no backlash at all to the [paid sharing] notifications that have gone out and to the work that we’ve already been doing.'
There’s still no word on how much this will cost customers.
This latest move from Disney follows Netflix's bold move to introduce paid sharing towards the end of last year.
Netflix subscribers are to pay an extra monthly fee of $7.99 if they wish to add another person to their account.
Though this didn't affect Netflix's subscriber account and if anything, they saw an increase after they put the change into effect.
Supposedly, the streaming platform welcomed 13 million new users towards the end of 2023.
Other platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime have added a tier system of subscriptions which means users will have to pay more than their usual fee to watch movies and TV shows without ads.