Bog Iger tantalized the crowd with a few bits and pieces about the streaming services that Disney plans to launch within the next two years when he presented at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications, and Entertainment Conference in New York City on Thursday, September 7th. The CEO gushed about the company’s thrilling new adventures in streaming services, spilling long-awaited news for fans who can’t wait to try them out!
The Disney-branded direct-to-consumer service
In late 2019, you’ll be able to subscribe to a streaming service that revolves solely around Disney content.
In previous comments about the streaming service, the company announced that Disney movies would be on it. As of Thursday’s presentation, Marvel and Star Wars movies will be on this app as well. In other words, this streaming service will contain the massive studio’s entire output. In addition to Star Wars and Marvel, the service will host animated, live action, and Pixar content.
Not the type of company to waste time, Disney is developing and producing new original content that will be exclusively for this streaming service while they wait for their Netflix output deal to end. This content will take the shape of four to five films, and most of them will be live action. Bob Iger also claimed that the studio library of approximately 400 to 500 films will also be available.
All of that is only for the film fanatics; television junkies won’t be disappointed with this service, either.
Disney is going to develop four or five television-series specifically for the streaming service. They also plan to produce three or four Disney-branded television movies. Beyond that, the television library of about 7,000 episodes of Disney-branded television shows will be on the app.
Recent seasons of all Disney Channel programming will also be available. The Walt Disney Company is also going to make thousands of shorts available on this streaming service.
The ESPN-branded direct-to-consumer service
Bob Iger described this product as “a plus service” that consumers will be able to subscribe to within the existing ESPN app where they can already watch ESPN's linear channels live.
The company plans to launch with an initial 10,000 sporting events in the first year that you cannot currently find on ESPN’s linear channels. The National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and Major League Baseball will all be represented in those games. A plethora of college games will be available, too.
Although it will initially be launched as a one-size-fits-all product, the end-game is to make the platform a customizable streaming service for each consumer. In Iger’s words, “Think what iTunes is, for instance, where you will be able to go to the platform and actually buy almost on an a la carte basis, a sport, a sporting event, a season, a league, maybe a conference, as a for instance.
You'll be able to pick and choose, over time, what it is you want.” Unlike the Disney-branded streaming service, the ESPN-branded streaming service is slotted to launch sometime this spring!
How much?
Mr. Iger refused to divulge a price tag for either of the streaming services he discussed on Thursday. He did, however, admit that he was aware of the growing curiosity about how much it would cost for each. Although he said that the Disney-branded streaming service would most likely be billed as a monthly fee, he did not directly discuss pricing for the ESPN-branded streaming service in a similar manner. He mentioned that prices will probably be announced “after the first of the year.”
