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Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions

509 points · 372 comments · DeepLogin

  1. semiquaver · · focus · HN ↗
    Did anyone actually read the linked wiki in full? It’s basically saying “if there are embedded ads in certain live (likely sports) content we carry you may see them even on an ad-free plan because we don’t have an alternative. Also we might try to promote different tiers of Disney+ itself within the app so to the extent you see that as an ad, that’s an exception to ‘ad-free’”

    I’m all for consumer awareness but I’m begging everyone to stop freaking out over prosaic non-issues like this.

    1. josefresco · · focus · HN ↗
      "because we don’t have an alternative"

      Ads embedded on the playing field? Sure. Billboards visible or sponsor logos on uniforms? I get it. Actual commercials? This is a solved issue for decades, there are "alternatives" as others have pointed out. This is a "Boiling frog" situation.

      1. bena · · focus · HN ↗
        No, there's nothing really to do. They aren't producing the feed, they're essentially hosting a stream from another broadcaster.

        For instance, if you have Paramount+, you can watch sports broadcast by your local CBS station through it. That station is going to be running commercials, Paramount+ has no input on it. The most they can do is run ads over their ads.

        I'm assuming there's something similar with Disney+. You can watch your local ABC broadcast or ESPN broadcast of a game, but you're just getting that broadcast as being currently aired.

        But even for broadcasts wholly owned and controlled by a streaming platform, like Thursday Night Football on Prime, there are just times when it would be dead air. I don't entirely mind commercials in that instance. Nothing else is going on.

        1. Kinrany · · focus · HN ↗
          Ads consume attention, so I do prefer static. Then again, I don't know why people watch TV (at all) or browse without uBlock.
          1. bena · · focus · HN ↗
            Does uBlock work on commercials aired as part of a stream/broadcast? I don't mean where they interrupt the stream and insert an ad, I mean that it's part of the video produced.

            I genuinely don't know and am asking out of curiosity.

            1. Kinrany · · focus · HN ↗
              I wouldn't know, for the same reason: I don't see the point in watching a stream rather than something one specifically wants to watch.
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