Password Sharing Is Streaming's Big Question Mark
The arrival of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Disney+ subscription video on demand (SVOD) service has the potential to dramatically alter the current streaming landscape. With a stable of valuable IP that includes massively popular franchises like Star Wars, Disney+ is the latest -- and potentially the most dangerous -- competitor that Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has ever had to contend with. That has sparked plenty of discussion about whether and to what extent Disney+ might be able to take customers from Netflix.
Netflix is projecting confidence. CEO Reed Hastings has said that cord-cutting's rising tide ought to lift all boats; with so many people kissing cable goodbye, the reasoning goes, there ought to be enough customers to go around. Others believe that a fractured streaming market will lead to more households with multiple subscriptions -- as well as to plenty of subscription churn as households rotate through subscriptions one at a time to catch their favorite shows.
But there's one factor in the financial equation that's very hard to predict: How will subscription and password sharing affect all these consumer discretionary giants?
Source Fool.com
