// ARS TECHNICA — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
The Disney protests were a wake-up call about the risks of streaming mergers
Each month, we’ll examine the biggest controversial changes to tech products: what changed, why it’s happening, how users are affected, and how companies can do better. Be sure to check out our first two articles in the series, which are about ads in PC monitors and social media’s AI moderators.
There was a call to boycott Disney last fall. The owner of the ABC network had taken Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air over comments Kimmel made about responses to Charlie Kirk’s murder, sending free speech proponents into a frenzy.
Those free speech proponents include me, who, as a reporter, has clear stakes in protecting that right. Although I was on board with halting support for a company I felt had acted wrongfully, truly boycotting Disney proved harder than I expected.
Canceling Disney+ was simple but threw a hefty wrench into my evening routine. I tend to end many weekdays laughing at comforting sitcom reruns and adult animation. I usually associate Disney with princesses, kids’ movies, and, more recently, comic heroes. But Disney also owns Hulu, which exclusively streamed many of my favorite shows for unwinding at the time, like American Dad, Futurama, Living Single, Fresh Off the Boat, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Completely boycotting Disney also meant I couldn’t watch the broadcast channels where some of these shows originated, like ABC and FX. It also limited my guilty-pleasure options, since A&E, History, and Lifetime were all partially owned by Disney (Disney has since sold its stake in those networks to Hearst), as were some video games. I had to miss some sporting events, too, since Disney owns all ESPN channels and streaming services.
Weekends often involve streaming a science-fiction or action movie my partner picked out. Due to the protests, though, I had to veto streaming content from some of his favorite franchises, including Avatar, Alien, Predator, and Die Hard.
This was all probably a reminder that I should take a break from the TV and go outside. For argument’s sake, though, I must point out that if I had wanted to spend my time outdoors at a theme park, my options would also have been limited somewhat.
A year later, as Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs its 25th season, the difficulties I faced trying to avoid Disney still perturb me.
There was a time when protesting ABC’s decision would have simply meant not watching ABC. After years of media conglomeration, however, protesting ABC can now mean boycotting a massive entity controlling many of my most prominent forms of entertainment—streaming, broadcast TV, comedies, science fiction, and video games—and even children’s programming.
It has been reported that the boycott financially impacted Disney and put pressure on the company to get Kimmel back on.