Disney+’s ad-supported tier, Disney+ Basic, is not available on all devices.
The cheaper version, which launched Thursday for $7.99 per month, is not currently available on Roku devices, for instance. This means that if users have this plan or the Disney Bundle Duo Basic or Trio Basic, they cannot subscribe to this plan on Roku devices or stream Disney+ on those devices.
Disney+ Basic is also not available on the Microsoft Windows Desktop app.
Disney informed TechCrunch that it is still negotiating with Roku to come to an agreement. Since channels are obligated to enter an ad income split with Roku by default, TechCrunch speculates the disagreement is related to an ad-share agreement.
Options for circumventing this issue include changing your subscription to ad-free Disney+, Disney+ Premium or the Disney Bundle Duo Premuim and Trio Premium, or stream Disney+ from a device that supports Disney+ with advertisements.
When Netflix unveiled its ad-supported plan a month ago, it had a similar issue.
Netflix’s lower-cost ad-supported subscription doesn’t work with Apple TV or Apple TV 4K devices.
A Netflix rep confirmed to Variety that “Basic with ads plan support on tvOS is not available at launch but coming soon.” A message on Netflix’s customer-support site says “basic with ads is not supported.” The error message usually means subscribers need to update their device to support the Basic With Ads plan.