Disney+, the upcoming streaming service, is set to launch in the US and Canada on November 12, 2019. Many counties are being left out of the debut, including the United Kingdom. Just exactly how long will British Disney fans have to wait until? The short answer is we don’t know but we do have some ideas!
Currently, Disney is being quite tight-lipped on when this will be launching other than “early 2020”. This comes courtesy of a tweet from the official Star Wars UK Twitter account, which states that The Mandalorian is “coming to you early 2020.”
The Mandalorian is a launch show for North America, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think we’ll see Disney+ in the UK in early 2020. ‘Early’ often indicates the first quarter of the year, between January and March. We do think that a pre-May release isn’t out of the question as this would allow Disney to include a UK launch in its end-of-year finances.
It’s believed that the reason the UK is getting Disney+ much later than North America and other countries is due to the existing contracts it has with UK broadcaster, Sky.
Sky currently has a channel called Sky Cinema Disney, which you guessed it, showcases Disney content. It’s more than likely that Sky is the exclusive home for Disney movies therefore that prevents Disney from making Disney+ the only place to watch its films in the UK. The Sky and Disney deal is rumored to be worth 1 billion a year, so it’s unlikely this contract can be broken easily.
Hang tight, UK Disney fans! We’ll keep you updated when Disney officially announces a release date.
Update: Disney has announced that Disney+ will be coming to the UK on March 31, 2020.