Disney Streaming service won’t compete with Netflix on Volume
By Shawn Lealos
A new Disney streaming service is coming in 2019, but viewers should not expect it to compete with Netflix when it comes to the library.
Disney CEO Bob Iger was talking to Wall Street analysts about the first quarter earnings (via Deadline) and touched on the 2019 digital streaming OTT service that Disney will kick off. When asked about the amount of material that fans can watch on their service, Iger said they are not going to match what Netflix offers.
According to Iger, the fact that Disney has all their hugely popular properties, from Marvel and Star Wars to Pixar, Disney and soon, Fox, there is no reason to go overboard with the number of series and movies they put on their service.
Iger said that this doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot of stuff to watch, but they know they have the name brands to bring in viewers and won’t have to spend as much money to bring in other properties. Instead, Disney will spend their money on Star Wars, Monsters Inc and High School Musical series that they already own the rights to.
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Iger also answered questions about how Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff will make Star Wars movies instead of a long-running TV show. He said the duo wanted to make movies, and Disney wanted to let them work on what mattered to them right now.
When it comes to the Disney streaming service, the company will be able to not only compete with Netflix but will be able to hurt the competition as well. Disney plans to pull all the Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney animated films from other streaming options and only allow them on their service.
However, Disney owns a percentage of Hulu and Iger previously said (via Polygon) that a lot of the Fox movies that Disney will absorb will be perfect for a site like Hulu, rather than for the Disney streaming service. Of course, that means that movie fans will have to subscribe to both those services.
Next: Game of Thrones showrunners Benioff and Weiss will write and produce new Star Wars films
The new Disney streaming service will arrive in 2019.