Enjoy netflixing Disney movies? You may want to get your fill while you still can as the House of Mouse has announced that it is throwing its hat into the streaming ring, consequently ending its agreement with Netflix.
The Media giant, which agreed to pay 1.58 billion dollars to acquire the majority ownership of streaming platform, BAMTech, LLC, revealed that it will launch an ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018 and also that a new Disney-branded streaming service will be rolled out in 2019.
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 said that like its competitor, it will make "significant investment" in its original movies, TV shows and short-form content, adding that the service will feature the brand's vast and lengthy library of content, including Disney and Pixar movies and Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD television programming.
"The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech's full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
He added, "This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the Company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands."
The statement further read, "Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.
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