Post by anwenwilson on Aug 10, 2017 10:08:26 GMT
Disney's streaming gamble is all about not getting eaten by Netflix
The Walt Disney Company has ditched Netflix in favour of its own streaming service set to launch in 2019. That, in itself, is significant, but it comes right after Netflix made a move to take on Disney at its own game.On Monday, Netflix made it's first acquisition – Millarworld, the Scottish comic book company. The streaming service hopes Millarworld will be what Marvel is for Disney, and seems to be an attempt to get a step ahead of others who are deciding to go it alone.Netflix is one of the world's biggest media companies, investing heavily on original content that in the past few years has come into its own, winning some of the industry's most prestigious awards.It also partners with other huge broadcasting and cable television companies like Comcast to boost its content and compete with other similar services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime.To avoid being eaten up by what's now become a rival, one of the world's biggest intellectual property companies has decided to cut ties with Netflix and go it alone. On Tuesday, Disney announced plans to launch its own paid video streaming service following its acquisition of a majority stake in BAMTech.
The yet unnamed service, launching in 2019, will include Disney and Pixar content like the sequel to Frozen and Toy Story 4. It will also include "original movies, TV shows, short-form content, and other Disney-branded exclusives". However, the announcement does not include Marvel and Star Wars, two of the company's biggest brand acquisitions in the past decade.