Article: https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20757626/disney-plus-espn-hulu-bundle-price-date-streaming-service

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Disney has been a very popular source of media for decades, creating family friendly stories and shows that has shaped childhoods throughout multiple generations. Disney has also bought a lot of media companies and the size of what they own is being added to their own streaming site, Disney+. Disney+ is a prime example of the issues with media convergence. Julia Alexander reported on Disney’s new “$12.99 bundle for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+”. The article discusses how Disney is buying up media, as they already own multiple large movie franchises and have stocks or ownership of 12 television channels. With Disney taking their own content away from HBO, Netflix and even Hulu, they have created a massive streaming source that will fight against competitors and the streaming platforms they have stock in. Alexander discussed how the “$12.99 bundle offers consumers tremendous volume, tremendous quality, and tremendous variety for a good price” (Alexander, 2019). For Disney to become this large of a content provider is staggering because they already touch so much in media. This convergence with other networks makes them untouchable by any competition, especially when they withhold the content they own. Disney is also dabbling in the sports realm, working with ESPN to ensure Disney+ is a one-stop-shop for the family and other viewers. The problem with Disney owning so much is there isn’t any diversity in their media. Having only one source of media creates a monopoly on what information and entertainment audiences receive. This poses a problem because Disney gets a say in anything that is affiliated with them. Touching so much of the media industry makes it very difficult for new content to come through because it must go through Disney first and if a creator’s content isn’t approved by Disney, it may never gain the popularity it deserves.

Included in this post, is a diagram of how much Disney owns or is affiliated with.