Disney Will Leave Netflix, Provide Its Own Streaming Service in 2019

Disney will end its relationship with Netflix and plans to offer its own streaming service with movies, television shows, and more, by the end of 2019.

CEO Robert Iger said during Disney’s 2018 Quarter 3 Earnings Call on Aug. 7 that the launch of the company’s direct-to-consumer product will be “the biggest priority of the company during calendar 2019.”

“There will be a significant amount of support given across all of our assets to see to it that that product launches successfully,” he added.

Netflix Loses Disney, Fox, and More

This means Netflix users won’t have access to many films or television shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasflim, FX, NatGeo and others, for example popular shows like High School Musical, Monsters Inc., Marvel or Batman series, and much more.

This is because Disney merged with Fox to form “New Disney,” the company announced on July 27. New Disney now owns 80% of ESPN, 60% of Hulu, and Fox movie studios.

In 2017, Disney announced that it acquired a majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC, and would launch an ESPN multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018.

With the technology of BAMTech, Disney became capable of providing its own streaming service, and Disney’s new ESPN+ service has already received good reviews, according to its Q3 report.

It’s estimated that Disney’s television and film streaming service fee will be cheaper than Netflix, since it will offer less content. In addition, due to contracts signed prior to the streaming service plan, some movies like Star Wars released before 2019 won’t be available on Disney’s streaming service. However, the newer movies will.

Netflix Will Soon Have More Competition

Netflix already announced that Fox shows are leaving Netflix in 2018, and most of them are now gone, while Disney movies will be leaving through 2019.

However, soon Netflix will need to compete not only with New Disney, but also CBS and DC Entertainment, which also want to develop their own streaming services in the future.

Since customers are now accustomed to streaming movies and programs and watching them in the comfort of their own living rooms, bedrooms, or their own home theaters, it’s no wonder more companies want to follow Netflix’ model and share in the profits.

However, it’s unknown how many people will be willing to create multiple accounts for different service providers.

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