More than two years after Disney+ launched in the UK, Virgin Media’s primary TV box, TV 360, is finally getting the app for Disney’s streaming service.
This means most of Virgin Media’s TV customers, who don’t have any other streaming devices, will finally be able to subscribe and watch Disney+ programmes and films directly on their TV 360 set-top box.
Disney+ was already available on Virgin Media’s new Stream box (see our review), but TV 360 users, who were left behind for a long time, were happy to finally see the app pop up on their boxes this week.
At first, the Disney+ app was added somewhat unceremoniously, without a major announcement at first, with some Virgin Media O2 customers seeing it pop up on their TV 360 box. Today, however, an official announcement was made.
The Virgin Media TV 360 box is a Freeview recorder box that lets you watch and record Freeview channels, access premium channels as well as some streaming and catch-up apps like Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and now Disney+.
Customers with Virgin Media’s older TV boxes, however – the V6 and Tivo – are out of luck, as those devices did not get the Disney+ service.
While the Tivo box is pretty old by now, the V6 box is still getting new apps and services – as just a few months ago, the BritBox app was added to it. But it’s unclear whether we’ll ever see Disney+ added to it as well.
Disney+ (see our full review) can now be streamed on most streaming devices and Smart TVs in the UK, and includes content from the worlds of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star – which is Disney’s general entertainment category for more mature audiences.
In the UK, Disney+ costs £7.99/month or £79.90/year – and you can subscribe directly via this link.
With the addition of Disney+ to the Virgin Media TV 360 box, customers will now be able to subscribe to the service and watch it on their VM box – but the subscription itself is not part of your Virgin Media package, and you still need to subscribe to it directly (for now, at least – maybe Virgin Media will offer a bundle that includes it at some point).
Also, remember that as with all streaming-based apps, Disney+ requires a broadband connection.
To find the new Disney+ app, TV 360 users should go to the Apps section on their device, press the microphone button and say “Disney+”.
The Disney+ app is also integrated with the TV 360 search function – so you can use the remote – or your voice – to say names of programmes on Disney+, and reach those directly.
David Bouchier, Chief TV and Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media O2 said:
“The addition of Disney+ on Virgin TV 360 is fantastic news for our customers and adds to the brilliant range of programming available via our service.
“The combination of live TV, catch up and streaming services, means that with Virgin TV 360 there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”
At this point, however, a few notable streaming services are still absent from Virgin Media’s TV 360 box – such as Apple TV+, Paramount+ and Sky’s streaming service NOW (but that one makes sense, as VM wants you to subscribe to Sky’s channels via its own bundles).