Disney+ Downloads Will Be Available Even if the Content Downloaded Leaves the Service (Which Will Happen)

Most streaming services let you download content, but when that content leaves said service, the downloads leave too. And even when that’s not the case, the downloads might expire. That won’t happen with Disney+. After taking a break from addressing the great national crisis facing us all – whether or not Martin Scorsese likes Marvel movies – Disney big cheese Bob Iger revealed that Disney+ downloads will remain in place as long as you remain a Disney+ subscriber.

During a talk at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit (via CNET), Disney’s Bob Iger revealed that Disney+ downloads would remain in place even if the films themselves do not:

“But by and large, almost all of it is there. And if you’re a subscriber, you can download it and put it on a device, and it will stay on the device as long as you continue to subscribe. If you wanted to download 10 classic Disney films that may not have all been available at once before, you can do that, basically fill all of your hard drive on one of your devices, and you or your child can watch wherever they are.”

This is indeed cool news for Disney+ subscribers, but it also asks a big question: why would anything leave the service? I was under the impression that Disney flat-out owns everything they’re putting on this service – that’s kind of the whole point of creating it. With that in mind, why would they be pulling titles off? Usually, when a title leaves a streaming service it’s because the streaming rights have expired. So wouldn’t that imply Disney gets to keep all their titles forever?

Nope! As it turns out, some content on Disney+ won’t be staying forever. As CNET reports, “because of licensing deals struck before Disney crystalized its streaming plan, Disney Plus will lose titles for periods of time. The company hasn’t detailed these library gaps, but at least one of them will move popular movies from 2016 through 2018 off Disney Plus back onto Netflix in about six years.”

But as Iger clarifies, this won’t be a problem if you download these titles – you’ll get to hang onto them, as long as you’re a subscriber. I also can’t help but wonder if Disney will take a “Disney Vault” approach to some titles, and deliberately pull them to drum up more interest – something they’ve been doing with their home video releases for years. But again, even if they do, you’ll be fine as long as you download them.

Disney+ launches November 12.

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