Disney+ might add a free streaming tier to compete with YouTube and Tubi
Disney is reportedly exploring a free, ad-supported tier of Disney+, and it already runs 24/7 “channels” that play nonstop programming. Put those together and you get something that sounds awfully familiar: good old cable TV. Here’s the streaming full circle, and why Disney’s doing it.
Here’s a slice of media déjà vu that’s almost too perfect. Disney is reportedly looking into offering a free version of Disney+, and the service already runs always-on, 24/7 “channels” that play nonstop programming with no choosing required.
Combine those two things, free, ad-supported, and channels you just flip on, and you arrive at something oddly familiar. Didn’t we already have that? It was called cable. Let’s talk about streaming’s great full-circle moment.
The news: a free Disney+ tier is on the table
According to a report from Business Insider, Disney executives have been holding internal discussions about launching a free, ad-supported tier of Disney+. The idea reportedly came up at a company streaming town hall, where Adam Smith, Disney Entertainment’s Chief Product & Technology Officer, spoke about the possibility.
Important caveat: this is still exploratory. Smith didn’t give a timeline, no decision has been made, and the talks are part of a broader conversation about how to “better serve fans.” So this isn’t a confirmed launch, it’s Disney thinking out loud about its options. But the fact that it’s on the table at all is telling.
Why Disney is even considering this
There’s a very real number driving this conversation. According to Nielsen data cited in the report, free ad-supported streaming services, think YouTube, Tubi, and The Roku Channel, accounted for a whopping 18.7% of all U.S. TV viewing in April 2026, up sharply from just 12.7% two years earlier.
That’s a massive, fast-growing chunk of eyeballs, and as subscription prices keep climbing, more budget-conscious viewers are drifting toward free options. Disney, quite reasonably, doesn’t want to be left out of that party.
A free tier, likely stuffed with ads, would be a way to grab those viewers and cash in on advertising revenue, even from people who’ll never pay for a subscription.
The other half: Disney+ already has “channels”
Here’s the part that completes the picture. Disney+ has spent the last while quietly rolling out features it calls “Streams”, 24/7 linear channels that play a continuous, pre-programmed feed of content. Instead of scrolling and picking, you just tune in to whatever’s currently airing.
The most famous is a dedicated 24/7 Simpsons channel that runs 767 episodes in order, nearly 300 straight hours of Springfield. Disney offers several of these Streams already and has confirmed plans to add more. In other words, the “channel” infrastructure is already built and expanding.
So... it’s cable. It’s just cable again.
Put the two halves together and the punchline writes itself. A free, ad-supported service with 24/7 channels you flip on and passively watch is, functionally, basic cable. The streaming revolution spent a decade promising to free us from exactly this, no schedules, no commercials, no channels, just on-demand freedom to watch whatever you want, whenever you want.
And here we are. Ads: coming back. Scheduled channels: back. And now, potentially, a free tier supported entirely by advertising, the exact model that ran broadcast and basic cable for generations.
For anyone who grew up flipping to the Disney Channel to catch whatever happened to be on, this is a genuine “we’ve come full circle” moment. Cord-cutters fled cable, and cable simply followed them into the app.
Why it actually kind of makes sense
Before we dunk on Disney too hard, there’s real logic here, and it’s worth being fair about it. It turns out endless choice is exhausting. Streamers have found that many viewers suffer from “choice fatigue”, the paralysis of scrolling through thousands of titles and picking nothing. Sometimes people genuinely just want to lean back and let the TV decide.
Linear channels solve that, and they boost engagement (people watch longer when they don’t have to keep choosing) and retention (the comfier the experience, the less likely you are to cancel). Meanwhile, a free tier chases that booming 18.7% of viewers who’ve decided paid streaming isn’t worth it. Cynical? Maybe a little. But it’s also just Disney reading the room, and the room, it turns out, kind of misses cable.
Disney+, cable, and the full circle: what it comes down to
None of this is a bad thing, exactly, it’s just deeply, wonderfully ironic. The streaming industry set out to slay the cable dinosaur: no more schedules, no more commercials, no more paying for channels you don’t watch.
A decade later, the winners of that war are busy rebuilding the dinosaur, ads, channels, and now maybe even a free broadcast-style tier, one piece at a time.
For viewers, the practical upside is real: more ways to watch, including potentially free ones, and an easy “lean-back” option when decision fatigue hits. But you’d be forgiven for chuckling at the sheer circularity of it all.
We cut the cord to escape cable, and cable just respawned inside our streaming apps. The more things change, the more they stay exactly, hilariously, the same.
Somewhere, an old cable box is laughing.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Business Insider (via WDWNT and What’s On Disney Plus) (July 9-10, 2026), verified for the core report (Disney executives holding internal, exploratory discussions about a free, ad-supported Disney+ tier, Disney Entertainment Chief Product & Technology Officer Adam Smith discussing the possibility at a streaming town hall without giving a timeline, no decision having been made, and the initiative framed as part of a broader effort to better serve fans)
Nielsen data (via Business Insider) and CBR (July 2026), verified for the context (free ad-supported streaming services including YouTube, Tubi, and The Roku Channel accounting for 18.7% of U.S. TV viewing in April 2026, up from 12.7% two years earlier, rising price sensitivity as subscription costs climb, Disney already placing some content on free platforms like Tubi and YouTube, and the industry-wide push toward free ad-supported streaming)
StreamTV Insider and What’s On Disney Plus (2025-2026), verified for the 24/7 “Streams” context (Disney+ offering always-on linear channels of programmed content, the dedicated 24/7 Simpsons channel of 767 episodes, the several existing genre-based Streams, Disney’s confirmed plans to expand them, and the industry comparison of these channels to FAST services and traditional broadcast/cable television)