The changes won’t happen right away
During its last earnings report yesterday, Disney announced they will part ways with streaming giant Netflix, removing its movies from the platform by next year. Instead, they plan to start their own streaming service.
That long, sad wailing you hear is the sound of parents who really would rather not pay for another streaming service in order to get their kids’ Disney fix, even though they’re totally going to.
According to CNBC, Disney is set to remove their movies from Netflix at the end of 2018, including all Pixar titles. Marvel TV shows, however, will stay with Netflix. In its place, Disney intends to roll out a branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019. It will start with availability in the U.S. only and expand globally.
The new Disney platform will feature all Disney movies including the 2019 releases, which means subscribing to this new service will get you access to “Toy Story 4,” “Frozen 2,” and the upcoming live-action version of “The Lion King.” The company also announced plans to make a “significant investment” in exclusive movies and television series for the new service.
In addition, Disney will launch its own ESPN video streaming service next year that will feature around 10,000 sporting events including professional baseball, hockey, tennis’ Grand Slam events, and collegiate sports.
The news of their partnership with Disney ending caused Netflix stock to drop 5 percent, and that whole 5 percent was probably parents who are adding up all the money they’ll need to spend on Blu-rays after losing their cheap and easy Disney movie access next year.
Kidding. But not really?
No doubt, the Disney streaming service will be a valuable thing for plenty of families with small kids, but having all that content in one spot (for one low price) along with our other favorite shows was definitely convenient. But we love our Netflix and we love our Disney. If we have to make room for both in the budget, we’ll do our best to make it happen.