Business
Disney+ cancellations soar after Jimmy Kimmel suspension
Danielle KayeBusiness reporter
ReutersDisney+ and Hulu cancellations rates doubled in September after TV host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly taken off air, suggesting the move may have hurt the entertainment giant financially.
Data from analytics firm Antenna shows Disney+’s so-called churn rate – the percentage of subscribers who cancel each month – jumped from a 4% average to 8%, which equates to about three million cancellations, while Hulu’s rose to 10% or more than 4 million.
Disney suspended Kimmel after comments he made about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, following pressure from a federal regulator. The decision sparked free speech debates.
ABC, which airs Jimmy Kimmel Live, reinstated him within a week after a backlash.
Disney, which owns ABC, decided on 17 September to take the comedian off air, two days after Kimmel had said, during one of his shows, the “Maga gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and of trying to “score political points from it”.
The abrupt suspension came hours after Brendan Carr, chair of broadcast regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast licence.
The move was met with protests in California and lambasted by the writers and actors guilds, lawmakers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Critics and First Amendment advocates had railed against ABC’s decision as censorship and a violation of free speech. They also called for economic pressure on Disney, urging people to boycott the company’s services.
Hundreds of celebrities and Hollywood creatives signed a letter backing Kimmel, who was later reinstated.
ReutersThe new data from Antenna, released on Monday, offers the first indication that Disney may have taken a hit from the blow-back.
Disney+ and Hulu lost millions more subscribers in September compared to recent months, while Netflix saw its churn rate hold steady at 2%.
But it is not clear whether Kimmel’s suspension was the only factor driving the surge in cancellations.
Disney’s move to suspend Kimmel coincided with its announcement of previously planned increases to subscription prices, as the company faces pressure to boost its profit from streaming services.
Despite the rise in cancellation rates, both Disney+ and Hulu saw an uptick in new sign-ups in September, offsetting some of the loss, according to Antenna.
Disney declined to comment and Hulu is yet to respond. However, Disney noted discrepancies between Antenna’s data and its internal figures.
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Business
E-cheques coming soon? RBI unveils Payments Vision 2028, plans wider oversight of digital players – The Times of India
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday unveiled its ‘Payments Vision 2028’ document, outlining a roadmap that includes exploring electronic cheques, expanding regulatory oversight to digital platforms, and strengthening safeguards in the fast-growing payments ecosystem, PTI reported.The central bank said it will examine the introduction of e-cheques to combine the advantages of paper instruments with the speed and reliability of digital payments. “To leverage the unique benefits of paper-based instruments and the speed and reliability of electronic payments, and cater to new business use cases, the introduction of electronic cheques in India shall be explored,” the RBI said.Alongside, the RBI is considering widening the regulatory ambit to include entities such as e-commerce marketplaces and centralised platforms that play a growing role in facilitating digital transactions.“In addition, e-commerce marketplaces and centralized platforms have been assuming significant responsibilities that could have implications on the orderly functioning of the payments ecosystem. These aspects shall be examined in detail and, if required, the scope of direct regulations shall be extended to cover such entities,” the document said.The vision document also proposes allowing users to enable or disable transactions across digital payment modes, similar to controls available for card transactions.To address fraud risks, the RBI is exploring a “shared responsibility framework” under which both the issuing bank and the beneficiary bank would share liability in cases of unauthorised digital transactions.The central bank also plans to review cheque design and security features, introduce a Domestic Legal Entity Identifier (DLEI) framework for better transaction traceability, and bring in a Cyber Key Risk Indicators (KRI) framework for non-bank payment system operators.Other initiatives include exploring white-label solutions in the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS), developing interoperability in the Trade Receivables e-Discounting System (TReDS), and introducing a ‘Payments Switching Service’ to ease customer migration across platforms.The RBI said it will also review the cross-border payments ecosystem to improve efficiency and streamline authorisation processes, alongside publishing periodic reports on global and domestic payment trends.Additionally, the central bank aims to enhance access to payment data and reimagine the card payments ecosystem by promoting secure tokenisation, improved transparency in pricing, and greater choice for users and merchants.
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