Disney Objects to New U.K. Bill Which Would Apply Additional Regulations to Streaming Services
Disney’s legal team in the United Kingdom is getting plenty of work thrown its way these days. According to an exclusive report from Deadline, Disney is lodging a protest with the British government regarding another new bill making its way through parliamentary procedure.
The proposed laws fall under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill; the first provision riling Disney representatives states that streamers like Disney+ will have to send customers a reminder email every six months, informing them that they are still subscribed and paying for that streaming service. That’s a useful consumer protection, considering that 47% of American customers are subscribed to a streaming service they no longer use.
It likely won’t cost Disney all that much time or money against its bottom line to write up and send out these emails twice per year, but that hasn’t stopped the company from accusing the U.K. government of trying to “micro-manage” streaming services. Disney’s argument is that it already sends notices to customers to remind them of subscription costs, makes canceling subscriptions easy, and that sending more emails might result in users ignoring important communiques from the company.
“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,” the company wrote to the Lords Communications and Digital Committee.
Disney might have a more legitimate gripe with another section of the bill, however. That section stipulates that streaming services must give customers a 14-day cooling-off period, during which they can be refunded their subscription money at any time if they choose not to continue with the service.
But Disney fears that this will allow users to sign up, watch a specific title within the two-week time limit, and then cancel before having to commit to paying. This behavior is called cycling, and Disney has good reason to fear it; 69% of American streaming users said in a recent survey they were considering cycling at some point in 2023.
“[The 14-day cooling off period] 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,” Disney wrote in its protest to the government.
Disney has also lodged its disagreements with Parliament regarding another British bill, which forces content creators to approach sensitive social and political topics with objectivity and impartiality. Other streaming services like Netflix have argued that this bill might force them to remove content from their platforms in the U.K.
A little closer to home, Disney recently halted production of all Canadian content until at least 2024. New regulations could be at the heart of this work stoppage, as well, as a new Canadian law that forces content creators to invest in local Canadian content and promote shows and movies in English, French, and Indigenous languages is now taking effect.
Here in the United States, the production of new shows for Disney+ has ground to a halt thanks to the Writers Guild of America strike. Disney may not have much to keep its talent occupied right now, but its legal department is in high gear thanks to new laws governing streaming that are working their way through the British Parliament.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”