In Canada, Disney+ will launch a crackdown on password sharing this November.
It will soon be illegal for subscribers in Canada to share their accounts with others outside of their homes.
On November 1st, Disney+ in Canada will start limiting password sharing. The region’s subscribers were informed through email that sharing accounts with anybody outside of their “household” would soon be outlawed. In this context, the term “household” refers to the hardware connected to a primary personal address used by individuals residing in the same home. The announcement isn’t quite clear, but I have the idea that non-household members could be considered to be part of the ‘household’ if they sign in at the main account holder’s home? Disney does not provide information on how it intends to enforce this rule, but it does pledge to constantly watch account activity to determine if users are abiding by it.Indeed, access to the streaming service may be restricted or even cancelled if Disney+ becomes aware of or suspects that some of its customers are infringing the law. According to the amended agreement (via MobileSyrup), “You will be responsible for any use of your account by your household, including compliance with this section.” The company has the “technical capability” to keep track of those sign-ins, Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s Q3 2023 earnings call last month. Iger also acknowledged that his team was aware that a “significant” number of users had been sharing passwords with friends and relatives. He hinted at the possibility of a crackdown starting in 2024 at the time, but it appears Disney+ may have gotten ahead of itself a little.
Interestingly, a clause in the agreement that reads “Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier” makes it seem like some Disney+ levels would allow password sharing after all. Of course, this would be the more expensive tier, which, based on Netflix’s new rules that allow users to add more members to their accounts for a higher monthly membership charge, I assume will function similarly. This latter platform was one of the first large streaming services to start enforcing account sharing restrictions by monitoring IP addresses and requesting verification codes every 31 days. Whether Disney+ will use the same strategies and what new subscription tiers it might propose are still unknown. The crackdown on password sharing appears to have greatly benefited Netflix, which announced a rise of 6 million new memberships in July for a total of 238 million customers, despite the initial reaction. Disney+ has been having trouble keeping up with demand, particularly for its Disney+ Hotstar offering, which had a startling 12.5 million member losses between April and June, falling from 52.9 million to 40.4 million. The platform’s loss of Viacom18’s exclusive right to broadcast live IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket until 2027 was a major factor in the decline. The removal of all HBO material from Disney+ Hotstar, which led many online (including myself) to wonder whether the subscription was still worthwhile, has to be considered a contributing factor.