DISNEY is handing out free episodes of a top TV show on YouTube.
Normally you’d have to pay for a Disney+ membership to see it.
But you can now watch the first three episodes of hit Star Wars series Andor without paying a penny.
Until today, you’d needed to have paid the £8.99 / $15.99 monthly fee.
But Disney is clearly trying to hook in fresh subscribers ahead of Andor’s Season 2 premiere on April 22.
The 40-minute episodes from season one were quietly uploaded yesterday, March 10.
And they’ve already racked up tens of thousands of views.
You can find them on the official Disney+ channel on YouTube – and they should appear in both the UK and USA.
Posts on Reddit about the surprise YouTube release earned hundreds of upvotes, with one fan cheering: “Thanks for the tip.”
Andor is a sci-fi series set in the Star Wars universe, and acts as a prequel to 2016’s Rogue One movie (itself a prequel to the original 1977 Star Wars film).
It follows rebel spy Cassian Andor, a thief who becomes radicalised against the sinister Galactic Empire.
“In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero,” Disney says.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”You’re throwing away money on Netflix – I found three common mistakes sending your bill soaring but the fixes are easy” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6362027220112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“Season 1, Episode 1, ‘Kassa’ follows Cassian Andor’s reckless search for answers about his past makes him a wanted man.”
The TV series stars Diego Luna as Cassian, as well as Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, and Elizabeth Dulau.
Andor’s first series premiered on September 21, 2022, with three episodes available at launch.
And the remaining nine episodes of the season were released weekly until November 23.
Now Star Wars fans are waiting for the April 22 debut of season two.
Disney is expected to release three episodes a week until May 13 this year.
The good news for TV fans is that it’s possible Disney will do this again with other shows in the future.
Streaming giants are facing a big problem: it’s hard to convince people to watch TV shows from trailers alone.
[boxout headline=”SWAP YOUR STREAMS TO SAVE!” featured-image=”32582581″]Here’s some bill-slashing advice from The Sun’s tech editor Sean Keach…
If you’re like me, you’ll be paying out more than you’d like on subscriptions each month.
It’s easy to lose track of where all the money goes, and the fear of missing out makes it hard to bin Netflix.
But if you’re paying for several streaming services, you’re making a big mistake.
Instead, try something called stream swapping.
Cancel all of your TV subscriptions except for Netflix, then burn through all of the telly you want to watch on the app.
Then cancel that and sign up for another service, like Disney+.
Watch all of the good stuff there and then move on, perhaps to Amazon Video.
Do this with three or four apps and then cycle back to Netflix at the start.
This way, you get to watch all of the top content on each app but you’re not paying for them all at the same time.
And you might even get to take advantage of some attractive sign-up offers too.
It could save you hundreds each year if you stick to it.
And if someone isn’t already subscribed to your service, they don’t get the chance to “test” the series with an episode or two.
So Disney is clearly hoping that fans will flock to sign up to the streaming service after being hooked by Andor’s first three episodes.
The other problem is that TV subscription fees keep rising, and there are now multiple services that people are having to choose between.
It’s increasingly difficult for everyday telly fans to foot the bills for all of the services.
So Disney needs to keep trying to attract users who might otherwise be tempted to only subscribe to Netflix, for instance.