K.T Simpson
After 5 years hand-in-hand with Netflix, Disney is set to cut ties and venture out alone, discontinuing their partnership from 2019. The two paired up in 2012, with Disney providing new releases exclusively to Netflix. Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that from 2019, they will be discontinuing this practice in favour of launching their own streaming service to host Disney movies and Disney-owned television series for kids.
Iger noted that movies that are Pixar and Disney branded will appear exclusively on the new service, alongside shows and movies made specifically for the service (similar to those Netflix-exclusives we’re getting a lot of), but details regarding Marvel and “Star Wars” at this stage remain unclear. So we could be seeing movies such as “Frozen 2” on the new service, but can’t confirm where “Captain Marvel” and “Star Wars: Episode IX” will appear.
Disney will also launch an ESPN streaming service early next year. The technical details surrounding this are that Disney are acquiring a majority share of BAMTech, the streaming technology company owned by the Major League Baseball for $1.58 billion – an additional 42 percent to what they already own.
Because they have unlimited monies, Disney also own a stake in Hulu, and execs at Disney said that the recent deal putting films such as “Mulan” and “Pocahontas” on Hulu won’t be affected.
The good news is Australians won’t be affected by the change, with Netflix continuing to provide Disney productions down under. At this stage, it will only affect the US market.
