In a shocking announcement yesterday afternoon, Disney revealed they are going to end their streaming deal with Netflix in a bid to launch their own streaming service which is planned to be available sometimes in 2019.
What this means is they are pulling all their movies from Netflix which has put viewers in an uproar. Netflix secured their streaming deal with Disney back in 2012 but it didn’t take into effect until last year. So it is unclear what the impetus was for Disney to decide to remove everything from the streaming giant into their own service (especially considering Netflix has their “Kids Only” feature already built in.)
The only good news for Netflix users is that they won’t lose their Disney movies immediately. Disney says it plans to cut Netflix off starting with the studio’s 2019 films, and Netflix says it’ll be able to keep all the Disney movies it gets through the end of that year.
“We continue to do business with the Walt Disney Company on many fronts, including our ongoing deal with Marvel TV,” said a spokesperson for Netflix.
According to the press release, the new Disney streaming service will be the “exclusive home in the US for subscription-video-on-demand viewing.” Disney will kick off the product with films such Toy Story 4 and the sequel to Frozen while various other original movies, television shows, and short-form content will be added at a later date. It will also feature older movies from Disney and Pixar’s catalog and shows from Disney’s TV channels.
Disney’s move to its own streaming service is a bold move. The idea that people will pay for yet another service is a gamble as a lot of people pay for services like Hulu and Netflix already on top of their cable service. They may not want to add another monthly subscription on top of everything else.
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