New Disney Streaming Service Coming in 2019
In preparation for Disney’s new streaming service, Disney movies and TV shows will be removed from Netflix.
In late 2019, The Walt Disney Company will end its contract with Netflix, meaning that all Disney movies and Pixar movies will no longer be able to be streamed on the platform. Such films include “Coco,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” the Star Wars franchise and all those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, announced the change during an interview with CNBC on Aug. 8, 2018, saying that Disney had acquired Fox assets, including the popular movie production company 21st Century Fox. Now they own Fox’s thirty percent stake in Hulu, giving Disney majority ownership. R rated movies created by Disney’s companies—like “Pretty Woman” and “Con Air”—will be moved to Hulu when the contract with Netflix ends in 2019.
“I think that if it’s their movies they can do what they want,” senior Jeremy Lee said. “However, I also feel like [since] they make so much money, they could be a little [more] nice and help support [Netflix] by watching it there.”
In August 2017, Disney also acquired majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC, a video streaming service, and will be using it as their new direct-to-customer platform. Much like Netflix, Disney will be producing its own TV shows and movies that will only be available for subscribers. They are aiming to create at least four original films and TV shows based on movies such as “The Muppets,” “High School Musical, “Monsters, Inc.” and popular cartoon “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” Although a price for the subscription has not been announced, it has been stipulated that it will be cheaper than the average price of a Netflix subscription.
“[It’s mainly unfair] to the people who are paying for [Netflix], and they don’t have enough money [to pay] for the new Disney one, so why would they [pay for a whole other service] to only watch Disney movies that they can’t watch [on Netflix anymore],” freshman Skylar Garrow said.
A specific date for when the streaming service will be available has not yet been announced, but it is estimated to be sometime in fall 2019. It will first be available to American customers before being released globally.
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