DisneyLife rolls movies, music and more into a £10 subscription
Right on schedule, Disney has launched its own streaming service in the UK. For £9.99 per month you'll gain access to many of the company's animated classics, such as The Lion King, Aladdin and The Jungle Book, as well as live-action hits such as Mary Poppins and Pirates of the Caribbean. A selection of Pixar films are also available, including Toy Story, Cars and Monsters Inc. It's not the full Disney library, but the company says more titles will be added over time. And yes, that includes Frozen, which will be arriving next spring.
The new DisneyLife service is more than just movies, however. It's a monthly subscription for everything that Disney has put out digitally, including TV shows, music, e-books and audiobooks. Like Amazon's Fire for Kids Unlimited service (that company has serious branding issues) this is supposed to be a central hub for keeping your little ones entertained. So when you're on holiday or stuck in traffic, there should be something inside that strikes their fancy. It also comes with a free app download every month, chosen by Disney, which will include games and anything else not covered by DisneyLife.
DisneyLife launches today on the web, iOS and Android, with support for Airplay and Google's Chromecast. Every account comes with a free one month trial and support for up to six profiles, where children can pick their favourite character (an avatar equivalent) and get personalised recommendations. Parents can set profile-specific time limits for weekends and weekdays, and download anything that they might want offline.
The service is packed with content -- 2,000 TV episodes, 5,000 music tracks and 100 books, to be exact -- but its success in the UK isn't guaranteed. There are plenty of child-centric streaming services, including YouTube Kids, and it can be hard for families to justify yet another subscription on top of Netflix or Amazon Prime. Having said that, Disney movies are usually quite expensive -- instead of buying them all individually, a monthly fee could be quite attractive to parents who are just starting to build out a collection.
