Disney to end Netflix partnership, launch own streaming services

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2017
Disney on Tuesday said it will end its distribution agreement with Netflix effective sometime in 2019, and launch in its place a standalone streaming services for both ESPN and Disney branded content.




As part of its move into streaming, Disney bought another 42 percent of BAMTech, an arm of Major League Baseball Advanced Media that develops and maintains direct-to-consumer streaming technology and related services, for $1.48 billion. Disney previously held a 33 percent stake in the firm after making a $1 billion investment last year.

"The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech's full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

With the shift toward first-party streaming, Disney will cease distribution of new content through Netflix starting in 2019. It seems existing movies will remain available, but fans looking to stream new titles due out in 2019, like "Toy Story 4," the sequel to "Frozen" and a live-action adaptation of "The Lion King," will have to wait for Disney's own service.

Disney plans to build its streaming product using BAMTech technology.

The initiative appears to be more than a simple transference of content away from Netflix, as the company promises to make a "significant investment" in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other exclusives. In addition to new movies and shows, subscribers will gain access to a large selection of back catalog titles from Disney, Pixar, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

The BAMTech acquisition also impacts Disney's ESPN property, with the company expecting to launch a new ESPN-branded streaming service in 2018 featuring some 10,000 live regional, national and international games and events each year. To be built into a new version of the ESPN app, the service will cover a wide range of sporting events from Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis, and college sports. Individual sport packages will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    supadav03supadav03 Posts: 503member
    Looking forward to this. As a father of 4 I can see this being a big hit in my home.
    Rayz2016cornchip
  • Reply 2 of 43
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    Won't be long before every producer of content will have their hands in our pockets. Cord cutters, your dream has come true. No more free lunch grandpa, the world is taking its cues from Spirit Air, pay toilets, and toll roads. No taxes, but everything you use will cost you. Justifying your accounts at the end of the month will be a nightmare with hundreds of nickel and dime charges flowing from your phone, watch, and car. Brave New World. 
    edited August 2017 Rayz2016cornchippropodSnickersMagoolkruppjbdragonMetriacanthosaurusdoozydozen
  • Reply 3 of 43
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    As long as it doesn’t mess with the marvel stuff I don’t care. 
    Rayz2016
  • Reply 4 of 43
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    irnchriz said:
    As long as it doesn’t mess with the marvel stuff I don’t care. 
    There could conceivably be a separate Marvel-only channel...
    Rayz2016doozydozen
  • Reply 5 of 43
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    So in the future we will need a paid streaming subscription for Disney, the broadcast networks, Paramount, etc?
    cornchipdoozydozen
  • Reply 6 of 43
    Won't be long before every producer of content will have their hands in our pockets. Cord cutters, your dream has come true. No more free lunch grandpa, the world is taking its cues from Spirit Air, pay toilets, and toll roads. No taxes, but everything you use will cost you. Justifying your accounts at the end of the month will be a nightmare with hundreds of nickel and dime charges flowing from your phone, watch, and car. Brave New World. 
    Wow! Capitalism! What a concept!
    doozydozen
  • Reply 7 of 43
    gilly33gilly33 Posts: 433member
    All I care about is the Marvel stuff. So some concern there.
    cornchip
  • Reply 8 of 43
    robjnrobjn Posts: 280member
    Wow! The stock market reacted very negatively to this in after market trading.

    It seems investors think Disney and Netflix are stronger together. Both their stock took a tumble!
    cornchipdoozydozen
  • Reply 9 of 43
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    robjn said:
    Wow! The stock market reacted very negatively to this in after market trading.

    It seems investors think Disney and Netflix are stronger together. Both their stock took a tumble!
    I can understand Netflix stock being harmed, but it's irrational (what else is a surprise) that Disney stock should be affected.
    lolliver
  • Reply 10 of 43
    NY1822NY1822 Posts: 621member
    robjn said:
    Wow! The stock market reacted very negatively to this in after market trading.

    It seems investors think Disney and Netflix are stronger together. Both their stock took a tumble!
    I can understand Netflix stock being harmed, but it's irrational (what else is a surprise) that Disney stock should be affected.
    Disney just completely changed their business model after years of saying they are platform agnostic. Their spending will increase (original content, etc), and this will eat into their earnings, so the market sees this as risk. Just a reason for Hedge Funds to justify to their clients why they are selling their DIS stock (and make their commissions in the process). 
    edited August 2017 cornchipjbdragondoozydozen
  • Reply 11 of 43
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    robjn said:
    Wow! The stock market reacted very negatively to this in after market trading.

    It seems investors think Disney and Netflix are stronger together. Both their stock took a tumble!
    Didn’t Disney also tumblr because ESPN is in terrible shape and profits down?
  • Reply 12 of 43
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Capitalism will sort out this mess.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 13 of 43
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    Won't be long before every producer of content will have their hands in our pockets. Cord cutters, your dream has come true. No more free lunch grandpa, the world is taking its cues from Spirit Air, pay toilets, and toll roads. No taxes, but everything you use will cost you. Justifying your accounts at the end of the month will be a nightmare with hundreds of nickel and dime charges flowing from your phone, watch, and car. Brave New World. 
    Wow! Capitalism! What a concept!
    Right, community out, every man for himself in. I'm sure that's how humanity progressed. 
    lolliverdysamoriadecoderingroundaboutnowdoozydozen
  • Reply 14 of 43
    Consumer adoption will tell if it's a better business to bundle (netflix style) or individual channels. For now I can only see success for individual channels that offer very specialty programming.
  • Reply 15 of 43
    Won't be long before every producer of content will have their hands in our pockets. Cord cutters, your dream has come true. No more free lunch grandpa, the world is taking its cues from Spirit Air, pay toilets, and toll roads. No taxes, but everything you use will cost you. Justifying your accounts at the end of the month will be a nightmare with hundreds of nickel and dime charges flowing from your phone, watch, and car. Brave New World. 
    Wow! Capitalism! What a concept!
    Right, community out, every man for himself in. I'm sure that's how humanity progressed. 
    Capitalism is the only reason companies like Apple and Disney even exist so I'm not sure what you're implying. Disney has their own product they want to sell and they want to cut out the middle man not unlike, oh I don't know, Apple with their retail stores? The market will decide if this is a good move or not. Disney seems to think it is. Does it kind of suck? Well yes because I have a one year old and it's awesome to get Disney movies included with Netflix and I don't really want to shill out more money for another subscription service. Only time and people voting with their wallets will tell. 
    muthuk_vanalingammike1brucemcdoozydozenSpamSandwich
  • Reply 16 of 43
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Wow! Capitalism! What a concept!
    You could have just said, "I am wholly ignorant of the topic of discussion and have nothing intelligent to add thereon," and the point would have been the same.
    The market will decide if this is a good move or not.
    Unfortunately it won't. Both an-caps and commies are wrong about the role of government in economy, but our current system tends toward the latter, not the former. Disney, after all, is the one responsible for US copyrights being infinite in length.
    edited August 2017
  • Reply 17 of 43
    JinTechJinTech Posts: 1,020member
    Could someone with more educaton than me tell me how "cord cutting" differentiates themselves from every single flipping major TV network subsidiary creating their own streaming service and how it's actually cheaper for the consumer? Legitimate question here. 

    [Edit] I know Disney is not a subsidiary of a TV network but I think you get my point?
    edited August 2017 mike1
  • Reply 18 of 43

    Just what we need - another streaming service.

    dysamoriaMetriacanthosaurustallest skil
  • Reply 19 of 43
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    How is this news? They did it a long time ago here in the UK with the release of Disney Life.

    Surely it was logical, even to a blind donkey, that they'd move it to the US?
  • Reply 20 of 43
    torstitorsti Posts: 12member
    Won't be long before every producer of content will have their hands in our pockets. Cord cutters, your dream has come true. No more free lunch grandpa, the world is taking its cues from Spirit Air, pay toilets, and toll roads. No taxes, but everything you use will cost you. Justifying your accounts at the end of the month will be a nightmare with hundreds of nickel and dime charges flowing from your phone, watch, and car. Brave New World. 
    Lucky you. We have about 30% taxes, 24% VAT (including digital services), and everything cost us, a lot. Netflix content is also very limited, and most of the other services are not even available here. It can take years to be able to see some popular new series or seasons (legally, ofc). But at least internet is cheap af.
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