Rumors abound that Disney’s iconic streaming service, Disney+, is shutting down. But what is the truth? We jumped in to fact-check.

Over the years, many rumors have made their mark on the Disney community. Some of the most notable ones that Disney fans might remember include the removal of Cinderella Castle, the closing of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, or any of the recent animated Disney movies (whether inspired by the Holocaust or famous footballers) that have been rumored to be in production. Most recently, some even believed Disney World was going to be shutting down indefinitely.

In a similar vein, there’s presently a rumor going around that Disney+ will be shutting down. Here’s the truth.

Related: Disney World to Close Down Indefinitely? Here’s the Truth

What Is the Rumor About Disney+?

On November 8, during the earnings call that brought a lot of news about The Walt Disney Company to the fore, it became evident that Disney CEO Bob Iger felt optimistic after a difficult and challenging year cleaning up the mess that Walt Disney Company is in.

Related: After Firing 4,000 Employees and Canceling 3,000 Jobs, Bob Iger Declares “New Era” for Disney

Some remarks that the Disney CEO made have caused concern that perhaps there are more changes on the horizon. Some have been concerned that Disney+ would be closing down after hearing the update on the Disney app that would combine various streaming platforms, effectively ending Disney+ as we currently know it. 

What does this mean?

Is Disney+ Really Shutting Down?

The short answer: not exactly.

Earlier this year, Bob Iger announced that Disney was working on a streaming service solution that would morph the disparate platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN into an app that combined them. During the recent earnings call, Bob Iger told parents they needed to “prepare” for this change since it meant that the formerly child-friendly Disney+ platform they were used to would soon start housing more adult-friendly content.

Because of this, parents need to be ready to set up parental controls, and Disney is giving them a chance to do that later this year by rolling out a “beta version” of the app that will be fully live by March 2024.

Bob Iger said, “We are basically putting it in beta so that we can prepare parents, largely, to basically implement parental controls, because you’ll be able to access Hulu programming on the same app.”

Related: Disney Announces Plans to Cut Costs Once Again by BILLIONS

At this point, as fans might imagine, the platform we know to be Disney+ will become the new and improved Disney app that the company announced in May of this year.

While this will bring some functional changes to how parents and users interact with the platform (although, for those familiar with Disney+ Hotstar, we imagine it’ll be similar to that experience), Disney+ itself isn’t exactly shutting down in the true sense of those words.

So, panicking fans can rest assured that their favorite Disney content on the streaming app is perfectly safe and isn’t going anywhere for now. This decision simply reflects Disney’s need to streamline its business strategy and help make this aspect of their business profitable.

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