The Walt Disney Company is hopping on the streaming train!
The company made 3 huge announcements; 1) the House of Mouse will pay $1.58 billion to acquire the majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC (streaming platform), 2) the company will launch an ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018 and finally, the news that’s got a Disney heaux jumping for joy (me) – there will be a new Disney-branded streaming service which will start rolling out in 2019 #ByeNetflix.
According to a statement on the Walt Disney Company’s website, “The new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the U.S. for subscription-video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate, which includes Toy Story 4, the sequel to Frozen, and The Lion King from Disney live-action, along with other highly anticipated movies.”
Disney also said that it will also make “significant investment” in its original movies, TV shows and short-form content. The services, which is still a year and a half away, will showcase the brand’s vast and lengthy library of content, which include Disney and Pixar movies and Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD television programs.
The big move for Disney also means a huge change for the company’s relationship with Netflix, which streams Disney films and TV shows. As a result of that, Disney also announced that new releases would no longer be on Netflix starting in 2019. The statement read, “Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.”
Are you excited/disappointed for Disney’s very own streaming service? Sound off in comments below!
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