Disney to Pull Movies From Netflix, Launch New Streaming Services

[MacRumors]

Disney plans to pull all of its movies from Netflix as it prepares to launch its own streaming services, the company said in its latest earnings report (via CNBC.)

Starting in early 2018, Disney will launch an ESPN video streaming service that will feature approximately 10,000 MLB, NHL, MLS, collegiate, and tennis sporting events every year.

Then, in 2019, Disney will launch a Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers Disney content.

It's not clear when Disney plans to remove its content from Netflix, but in 2012, the two companies inked a deal that saw Netflix getting exclusive access to Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar films. Currently, there are dozens of Disney movies available on Netflix, like The Chronicles of Narnia, Moana, Zootopia, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more.

The deal, though initiated in 2012, didn't fully go into effect until 2016, so Netflix has only had access to a wide range of Disney content for under a year.

With its huge range of content, Disney stands to become a major competitor to existing streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, and for Apple, this essentially means that if the company ever does manage to launch a streaming service, it may not be able to include any Disney content.

Article Link: Disney to Pull Movies From Netflix, Launch New Streaming Services

 

[eatrains]

Well, everyone wanted to pay for channels a la carte. Now you can.

 

[sputnikv]

how obnoxious. why not offer an alternative service with competitive pricing given the library size and offer benefits like the ability to stream films in theaters without making the bulk of your content exclusive to your service?

 

[Dekema2]

The problem with all of these streaming services is that if a series or season isn't offered on one that you're paying a dozen dollars a month for, you would theoretically need to jump to the other to get it.

It seems Disney will now just be perpetuating this issue even further, despite the increase in competition.

 

[revjoel]

Apple to announce Disney purchase in 10, 9, 8,...

 

[chriscrowlee]

Netflix seems to become less and less valuable by the year... Pretty soon all they're going to have left is their couple original series, and a plethora of 1990s movies available in the $1.00 DVD bin at Walmart. They keep raising prices yet keep losing content. I have cable TV still (mainly because you can't pry my TiVo from my grips, and I have Hulu. Had Netflix and between raising prices, adding restrictions like streaming to two devices at one time in the same house without paying more, having to pay more for 4K, etc, I ditched them. They're becoming irrelevant with Sling\DirecTVnow\Hulu Live, etc...

 

[jgelin]

Fragmentation will be the death of this.
Eventually consumers just wont have the money to keep adding a monthly subscription service.

 

[EliasM]

I don't get tv and film streaming. Why can't it be like music streaming where you can (in many cases) find the same songs on different platforms? This is most annoying and is forcing people to pay for more subscriptions than would be ideal.

 

[BigMovieGeek]

That sounds an awful lot like Disney Life that we have in the UK. It's a £4.99 per month subscription that gives you access to a huge library of Disney movies, TV shows, books and soundtracks. I have it for the kid (and me ;-) ) and it's well worth the price in my opinion.

 

[McFreggle]

Aren't Apple and Disney linked anymore? Steve Jobs was a link between the two. Is that link gone?

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I want another monthly "subscription" like I want a hole in the head. I have to process this one for awhile...

 

[chriscrowlee]

Fragmentation will be the death of this.
Eventually consumers just wont have the money to keep adding a monthly subscription service.

Precisely. Many people used the logic "I can get Netflix for $7.99 a month, I don't need cable for $50 a month" ... and now people are finding by the time they subscribe to DirecTVnow, Netflix, and the ala carte stuff they want to add, they're back up spending the $$$ they initially wanted to get away from spending. LOL

 

[ersan191]

Oh neat, the studios are finding ways to encourage piracy again.

 

[iVoid]

Sigh... this is why I dropped Netflix and don't subscribe to other streaming services: It's very hard to know what's available where.

It's getting to the point where pirating movies is looking attractive again.

 

[harriska2]

That sounds an awful lot like Disney Life that we have in the UK. It's a £4.99 per month subscription that gives you access to a huge library of Disney movies, TV shows, books and soundtracks. I have it for the kid (and me ;-) ) and it's well worth the price in my opinion.

Except here it will be between $10 and $15 per month with minimum wage at about $10 per hour.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Well, everyone wanted to pay for channels a la carte. Now you can.

So many complained but so few of them understood that this is what was going to happen.

Around 25% of your cable bill each month goes to ESPN. That's right, a single channel gets a huge chunk of the money. The rest is divided amongst the rest. People are cool paying $60/month for 100 channels but when you start looking at $15 a month for just ESPN, that seems crazy to most. Thanks to bundling, you get a price that seems more reasonable as it includes far more for the money.

With unbundling, a number of things happen. First, you have less subscribers. This means that each channel has to increase their rates. ESPN can't afford to charge just $20 a month because now they have far less subscribers. So they have to increase their price in order to make the same amount.

The sad second thing is that you put a lot of channels out of business. Within your typical subscription bundle, there are plenty of channels you might not watch but some others do. With a bundled service, everyone helps pay for those. Maybe you even really enjoy one of the small channels. But now that they aren't bundled, they aren't going to make enough to survive. Say goodbye to channels like FX and others that don't have the huge viewership of the big 10 to keep them in business.

There are goods and bads to bundled TV subscriptions. But most don't understand the goods, only believing they'll be able to pay less than what cable companies charge now for even greater choice. That simply isn't true. Enjoy having subscriptions to Netflix, HBO Go, and a dozen others if you want the same choices you use to enjoy.

 

[npmacuser5]

Precisely. Many people used the logic "I can get Netflix for $7.99 a month, I don't need cable for $50 a month" ... and now people are finding by the time they subscribe to DirecTVnow, Netflix, and the ala carte stuff they want to add, they're back up spending the $$$ they initially wanted to get away from spending. LOL

Quality vs Quantity. I prefer Quality and willing to pay more for it. The cable boxes, contracts, lousy support, DVR, skipping commercials, and you still have to pay extra for Netflix, Amazon, HBO, etc. Price is only one part of the user experience.

 

[jetjaguar]

Ugh another one

 

[prowlmedia]

Disney life in the UK is really good value for kids... has a LOT of movies, TV shows and behind the scenes extras etc.

They have a lot of older content that I hope they will add too - old documentaries etc.

 

[sk1wbw]

Don't worry, they'll offer payment plans just like they do for their parks.

 

[mrkkbb]

Precisely. Many people used the logic "I can get Netflix for $7.99 a month, I don't need cable for $50 a month" ... and now people are finding by the time they subscribe to DirecTVnow, Netflix, and the ala carte stuff they want to add, they're back up spending the $$$ they initially wanted to get away from spending. LOL

So true, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, ABC go, CBS all access, HBO go, FX+ (just announced), AMC Premiere, SlingTV, ...

 

[chriscrowlee]

Quality vs Quantity. I prefer Quality and willing to pay more for it. The cable boxes, contracts, lousy support, DVR, skipping commercials, and you still have to pay extra for Netflix, Amazon, HBO, etc. Price is only one part of the user experience.

Yep. TiVo user experience consistently trumps all other services. That's why TiVo users are like Mac users... once a user always a user. The experience is flawless. Cable company boxes, even the most advanced brand new ones, are garbage. FYI Tivo requires no contract, and skips commercials ;-)

 

[hawkeye_a]

Disney owns the content, and as long as they are not breaching any existing contract, they can choose how they want to deliver said content to end users.

However, I do wonder why a publishing house would want to bear the burden/overhead of maintaining and hosting their own service when they could just let others(Apple, Netflix, whoever) do it for them?

 

[pika2000]

The problem with all of these streaming services is that if a series or season isn't offered on one that you're paying a dozen dollars a month for, you would theoretically need to jump to the other to get it.

It seems Disney will now just be perpetuating this issue even further, despite the increase in competition.

But isn't that what everybody wants? A la cate instead of paying one provider (be it the cable companies or netflix) for things you don't need?

/s

 

[napabar]

Silly comment to say Apple won't be able to stream Disney's content. Apple and Disney have been in bed together since Jobs was alive. Iger is on Apple's board, even.