US mass media giant Disney is making some big entertainment news this week. The company has just announced plans to launch its own ad-free Disney branded streaming service.
According to Recode, the planned Netflix-like streaming service may become the “exclusive home” for all subscription service of Disney and Pixar animated movies. The news is a big blow for Netflix — the company has been working on marquee movie deal with Disney.
Netflix is expecting a huge deal with Disney in the coming months. The plans are to become the exclusive home” for subscription streaming of all new Disney movies by 2017.
Unfortunately, Netflix’s plans could be ended by Disney’s big announcement.
Disney plans to launch its streaming service in 2019. Additionally, Disney also announced plans to pull all of its movies from Netflix. The company made the announcement in its recent earning report, where it detailed everything about its new streaming service plan.
What to expect from the company's new streaming service
As mentioned earlier by Recode, the company's newly announced service will be powered by BAMTech, the streaming technology platform built by Major League Baseball (MLB). The company plans to launch two type of streaming services, the Disney-branded streaming service for all of Disney’s movies and TV shows.
The second one is the ESPN-branded service. The company plans to offer around 10,000 live regional, national and international games and sporting events a year.
Disney said that it plans to use BAMTech’s streaming technology to build out its planned ESPN-branded streaming service. Disney has been a major investor of the BAMTech’s business.
Reports said that
Disney has made some $1.58 billion investment for the BAMTech's business, giving it a huge 75 percent controlling stake in the company. However, the deal still requires government’s regulatory approval. The company plans to launch the planned ESPN-branded streaming service next year and the Disney-branded service in 2019.
Netflix has launched a countermeasure
The loss of Disney films would not be a major threat to Netflix's business. The company has been reinvented itself over the past few years to produce original TV contents and film titles, so the Disney’s news wouldn't have a huge effect on the company.
Netflix’s recent acquisition of a comic book publisher Millarworld could be the company’s first step to counter Disney’s move. The deal will allow the streaming giant to offer even more original TV contents and film properties. The publisher has a huge portfolio of stories and characters that already seen several successful film adaptations.
