Remember TV? Well, thanks to streaming, it's become a thing of the past in many ways, with streaming giving people the content they want on demand, 24/7.
Now, though, it seems we're circling back to traditional TV programming as Disney+ is planning always-on channels dedicated to various brands, including Marvel and Star Wars. This news comes from The Information, with the site explaining that subscribers will be able to tune into 24/7 channels featuring programming from Disney brands already on the platform.
However, unlike many other FAST platforms - free, ad-supported streaming TV channels such as Tubi, for example - you will need a subscription to tune into Disney+'s offerings.
Similar to most FAST channels (which typically offer people access to streaming content free of charge), there will probably be advertisements. While not confirmed, we'd guess those who pay for the higher-tier Disney+ subscriptions won't see them.
Is a continuous stream of content you can watch on demand whenever you please really that big of a draw? Disney+ believes so and is no doubt basing this on the success Peacock, Shudder, and Amazon's Freevee have found doing the same thing.
Believe it or not, many people still want to watch TV. FAST services like Tubi draw larger viewership numbers than Peacock, Max, and Apple TV+, as there's something to be said for tuning into a random episode of a series rather than being presented with a seemingly endless list of on-demand picks.
In a speech to the Morgan Stanley Technology Media and Telecom Conference, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently admitted the technology behind Disney+ isn't currently good enough to "lower customer acquisition and retention cost, to increase engagement, to essentially grow our margins by reducing marketing expenses."
"Obviously, the gold standard there is Netflix," he added. "We need to be at their level in terms of technology. One of the reasons why their margins are so much more significant than ours is because they have that technology."
"We’re finding wherever we bundle, churn rates are down significantly. So that’s a path to profitability."
Presumably, these channels are part of that. We've seen a great many changes to streaming in recent years, including streamers moving away from the notion of releasing every episode of a series on the same day. X-Men '97 is a big talking point each week; Fallout, however, seems to have already been forgotten after 8 instalments dropped in one go last Thursday.
Stay tuned for updates.