It was recently confirmed that Daredevil, along with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Punisher, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., would be coming to Disney+ on March 16th, but one organization isn’t happy about it.
The Parents Television Council has spoken out against Disney for their choice to add Daredevil and the other former Netflix series to their streaming service, even saying that doing so “would destroy your brand.” At least in the U.S., Disney+ has limited their content to that rated TV-14 or younger, which will make Daredevil and the other shows their first TV-MA content. “For more than 98 years, the Walt Disney Company has been synonymous with the words Family Friendly, and I can think of no other corporation in American history that has been built more squarely on the backs – and on the wallets – of parents and families,” said PTC president Tim Winter. “The company’s eponymous platform Disney+ logically marketed itself as a family-friendly streaming service, and parents have placed their trust in Disney to deliver just that. It seems wildly ‘off-brand’ for Disney+ to add TV-MA and R-rated programming to this platform, ostensibly to increase subscription revenue. So what comes next, adding live striptease performances in Fantasyland at Disney World?“
When Disney announced that they would be bringing Daredevil to the streaming service, they also announced an update to the parental controls which will allow parents to add ratings restrictions to each profile as well as a PIN to lock profiles. Although the PTC did praise Disney for this move, they said that there’s “no need for Disney+ to compete with the explicit content on other streaming platforms. Disney is already at a competitive advantage with a streaming platform that is the safest one out there for families. Its foray into TV-MA-rated fare will forever tarnish its family friendly crown.“
In some locations outside the U.S., Disney has been putting their more mature content on the Star platform. That means that up here in Canada I can watch Beauty and the Beast and Iron Man as well as The Hills Have Eyes and The French Connection. I would imagine that it’s only a matter of time before Disney+ in the U.S. follows suit in some form, but for those with young children, would you prefer that the streaming service stay “family friendly” even with the parental controls in place?