Disney+ To Grant Subscribers The Ability To Password Share — At A Price — Starting This Summer

Attention Disney+ subscribers: password sharing comes at a cost — or rather, it will once the summer starts.

According to Variety, the media giant held its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday (Feb. 7), where Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston explained, “beginning this summer Disney+ accounts suspected of improper sharing will be presented with new capabilities to allow their borrowers to start their own subscriptions.”

In other words, Disney+ users who are splitting their accounts between different households will have to pay up if they want to continue their arrangement.

Eventually they will grant subscribers the ability to pay extra to share their account with people outside of their household, noting that they “want to reach as large an audience as possible with [their] outstanding content,” and are “looking forward to rolling out this new functionality to improve the overall customer experience and grow [their] subscriber base.”

The price for this add-on has yet to be revealed.

Highlighting that they’re “still in the early days” of taking such measures, Johnston said the company isn’t anticipating any major benefits until the “back half” of this year.

This update arrives on the heels of Hulu, another streamer owned by Disney, announcing their password sharing crackdown, which is set to take place for current subscribers March 14. In terms of password sharing with those outside of your home, both streamers define “household” as “the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein.”

Disney+ in particular announced its initial password crackdown plans last fall. According to Variety, the streamer appears to be taking notes from Netflix, which began allowing its customers to add paid members to their account last spring. Disney’s earnings report, released on Wednesday, highlights that its flagship streaming service lost 1.3 million subscribers across the U.S. and Canada, per The Verge.

The streaming provider revealed two other (more exciting) announcements on Wednesday that will likely attract subscribers, as well: the Season 2 renewal of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and the March 15 streaming debut of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version).