Disney launches a Netflix-like streaming service — but only in the U.K. for now

By Stephanie Topacio Long Published November 23, 2015

disney streaming service disneylife brave — Walt Disney Pictures

Being a Disney lover in the U.S. has never been so hard. Today marks the launch of Disney’s new Netflix-like streaming service, DisneyLife, but fans stateside don’t get to be a part of the fun. The service is only available in the U.K.

The subscription service costs £10 per month (about $15, at the time of publishing), which is higher than the cost of either Netflix or Amazon Instant Video’s £6 per month rate in the U.K. However, members get access to a wealth of Disney content; in addition to movies, there are TV shows, novels, picture books, music, and apps, available in up to five languages.

Recommended Videos

DisneyLife is billing itself as “the biggest Disney movie collection in one digital membership” and includes everything from animated classics like Fantasia to live-action films like Pirates of the Caribbean, according to DailyMail.com. Disney-Pixar collaborations, such as Toy Story and Up, are available as well. It’s basically the last few generations’ childhoods, in streaming form.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

With its extensive library of content, including bloopers, behind-the-scenes videos, and featurettes, DisneyLife definitely has a lot to attract users. Members can even download one app per month from the service’s collection as part of their subscription. These are said to be “interactive adventures” starring Disney characters.

DisneyLife members can create six profiles per subscription and add up to 10 compatible devices. The service is available on iOS and Android, and users can also watch content via Airplay and Chromecast. On top of streaming, subscribers can download content for later consumption.

While there are plans in place for DisneyLife to expand out of the U.K. into other countries next year, Disney CEO Bob Iger has said a stateside launch isn’t currently on the docket. However, he did say that it’s “scalable to the U.S.,” so perhaps all hope isn’t lost.

Topics

Stephanie Topacio Long

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…

Entertainment

This 2021 action movie prequel is better than its bad rep suggests. It’s now streaming on Netflix

Henry Golding in Snake Eyes.

As Hollywood becomes more and more obsessed with intellectual property, there have been plenty of upstart franchises that wanted to cash in on a little bit of what Marvel seemed to figure out. G.I. Joe was one such franchise that gave that a shot, but Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins put a stop to that.

The movie stars Henry Golding as Snake Eyes, the famed G.I. Joe character, in a spinoff focused entirely on his character. The movie was not a hit in theaters, but has become one since arriving on Netflix. Here are three reasons you should check it out on the streamer.

Entertainment

This fun buddy cop action movie is popular on Netflix right now. Here’s why you should stream it

Two men in masks hold guns in 2 Guns.

Movies can enter the Netflix top 10 for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes, they're recently released titles that are new to the service or older titles that are nonetheless new to the platform. One such older title that has made its way into the top 10 is 2 Guns, which was originally released back in 2013.

Starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, the movie follows a DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer who are both working undercover inside a cartel. When they cross paths and are abandoned by their superiors, they have to take down the cartel they're both embedded within and learn to trust each other. If you're wondering why the movie is worth watching, and why it's made its way into the top 10, here are three reasons it has remained a hit on Netflix.

Audio / Video

The 10 most popular streaming services, ranked by subscriber count

The Netflix home screen.

When you're comparing the best streaming services, there are plenty of metrics to go by. Comparing them only by their number of subscribers isn't exactly a fair fight. After all not all streaming services are available worldwide. The number of subscribers doesn't exactly address the "worth" of a service, much less whether the app is easy to use. It doesn't even touch on whether the catalog of programming is good, or has what you want to watch on it, which is truly the best metric out there.

However, when we look at total subscriber counts, we can see how each service does from a global perspective. Considering we're looking at everything from streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu, to newer services like Apple TV Plus. For this post, we're not talking about free (FAST) streaming services or live TV streaming services, but the big VOD services.