Disney's Netflix rival to launch in 2019 as Disney+
Following a takeover of 21st Century Fox, Disney is moving ahead with plans to launch a streaming service chock-full of blockbuster movies and TV shows pulled from its increasingly deep well of original content.
The new service will be branded Disney+ and is slated to debut in late 2019, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in an earnings conference call on Thursday. Disney beat Wall Street expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter with $2.3 billion in net income on revenue of $14.3 billion.
CNBC reported Iger's announcement earlier today.
As expected, Disney+ will feature movies, shows and other content from a rich catalog that now includes Fox properties. Disney purchased the media giant for $71.3 billion in cash and stock in July.
In addition to an existing slate of shows, Disney plans to dabble in straight-to-streaming original series, a strategy adopted to great effect by Netflix. Upcoming shows include Marvel and Star Wars properties that focus on popular characters like Loki, played on the big screen by Tom Hiddleston. A "Rogue One" prequel centered on character Cassian Andor is also in the works, the report said.
Disney+ will also host original animated content like the next season of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and a new series set in Pixar's "Monsters Inc." universe.
Disney announced plans to launch its own streaming product last year. The service is built on technology developed by BAMTech, an arm of Major League Baseball Advanced Media that develops and maintains direct-to-consumer streaming technology.
In revealing its streaming ambitions, Disney said it will pull all existing content currently available on Netflix starting in 2019.
Disney+ will join Disney's ESPN+, a sports-centric streaming service that launched in April.
Apple, too, is working on a slate of original content for a first-party streaming service expected to debut next year. Recent rumors suggest the tech giant's streaming efforts will be free to view through the TV app, while outside channels are to be offered on a subscription basis.
The new service will be branded Disney+ and is slated to debut in late 2019, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in an earnings conference call on Thursday. Disney beat Wall Street expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter with $2.3 billion in net income on revenue of $14.3 billion.
CNBC reported Iger's announcement earlier today.
As expected, Disney+ will feature movies, shows and other content from a rich catalog that now includes Fox properties. Disney purchased the media giant for $71.3 billion in cash and stock in July.
In addition to an existing slate of shows, Disney plans to dabble in straight-to-streaming original series, a strategy adopted to great effect by Netflix. Upcoming shows include Marvel and Star Wars properties that focus on popular characters like Loki, played on the big screen by Tom Hiddleston. A "Rogue One" prequel centered on character Cassian Andor is also in the works, the report said.
Disney+ will also host original animated content like the next season of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and a new series set in Pixar's "Monsters Inc." universe.
Disney announced plans to launch its own streaming product last year. The service is built on technology developed by BAMTech, an arm of Major League Baseball Advanced Media that develops and maintains direct-to-consumer streaming technology.
In revealing its streaming ambitions, Disney said it will pull all existing content currently available on Netflix starting in 2019.
Disney+ will join Disney's ESPN+, a sports-centric streaming service that launched in April.
Apple, too, is working on a slate of original content for a first-party streaming service expected to debut next year. Recent rumors suggest the tech giant's streaming efforts will be free to view through the TV app, while outside channels are to be offered on a subscription basis.
Comments
it will be very interesting to see what Apple brings to the table.
The Apple stuff is far more interesting.
Despite being a huge Apple fan I suspect I'll be viewing Apple's coming streaming service in the same light ... no pun intended.
I confess we are kind of lucky in that our HOA fees include a cable HD service even though we don't use it at all ... other than using it to grant access on the Apple TV app to streaming from a load of content only available if you have a cable subscription.
BTW one great thing about early TV shows is they were shot on film so they can be digitized to HD and even 4K but sadly the advent of video recorders and cameras has doomed several decades to 640 x 480 pixels NTSC, PAL is a tad better not much on a 70" screen. A great example of this is the first ever Star Trek TV episode that is available in HD, once this pilot was done the rest of the shows are digital video at crappy resolutions by today's standards. I've been waiting for magic AI systems to be able to upscale for a long time in my dreams but magic isn't possible sadly.
I'm not inclined to start paying for yet another streaming service, and Netflix has lots of content I enjoy. If I have to choose one or the other, Disney loses.
Tell us when it: (i) actually arrives; and (ii) is (even reasonably) successful.
Just looking at the current partnerships with Acxiom, Oracle BlueKai, and LiveRamp for personally-linked data sharing should be enough to raise red-flags for those here who claim to be fearful of "being sold" and their privacy being stolen away by the likes of a public facing Facebook or Google. Disney's family friendly arms offering a warm embrace of Advanced TV is putting you to sleep, while IdentityLink and other data tech will be helping them keep an eye on the place.
Folks own too many sets of blinders, and have no clue what it actually happening behind the scenes. IMHO ditching Facebook/Google is akin to telling your in-laws to stay out of your personal business, but then letting the creepy dude in the dark house at the end of the street who never comes outside during the day and who you've never met wire up your home for you at a bargain 'cause he's probably a nice guy who just wants to help out a neighbor.