Nov. 12 (UPI) — Streamers waiting to see Disney Plus movies and shows on Tuesday’s launch faced technical errors.
Thousands of subscribers saw error messages after logging in, and Walt Disney Company blamed oversize demand as it tapped into the streaming market with established players such as Netflix and Amazon.
“The demand for #DisneyPlus has exceeded our highest expectations,” Disney Plus said in a Twitter post Tuesday morning. “We are pleased you’re excited to watch all your favorites and are working quickly to resolve any current user issues. We appreciate your patience.”
Downdetector.com reported a peak of 8,391 Disney Plus subscribers affected by the outage around 9 a.m. By 2 p.m., the online technical glitches monitor reported 769 outages left.
The service launched Tuesday in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands with nearly 500 films and 7,500 television episodes, Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International Media Center announced. It includes Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel movies content, along with National Geographic. Original content includes Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian, and a live action Lady and the Tramp.
The subscription-based streaming service costs $6.99 a month, or $69.99 per year. Subscribers can bundle Disney Plus with Hulu and ESPN Plus for $12.99 per month, and Verizon wireless and new FiOS customers can get the streaming service free for a year.
Wall Street analysts appeared confident that the Disney Plus errors would be resolved as shares traded at about $139, up 2 percent from the prior day.
The company announced that Disney Plus will also launch next Tuesday in Australia, New Zealand and U.S. territory Puerto Rico. On March 31, 2020, Disney Plus will launch in markets across Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, as announced earlier this month.
