Disney divorces Netflix

Disney has revealed that it will be ending in its partnership with Netflix in order to create its own streaming service.

Walt’s company plans to remove its contents from Netflix with an aim to launch its own streaming service.

It was only last year that The Magic Kingdom reached an exclusive partnership with Netflix. This brought Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar movies to the streaming platform.

However, today the company has confirmed that its agreement will end in 2019. This will mean that Netflix will miss out on films such as Toy Story 4 and the sequel to Frozen.

Netflix stock drops

This statement brought Netflix stock price down by 3%

With this strategic shift, Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.

In an interview with Netflix the company explained

US Netflix members will have access to Disney films on the service through the end of 2019, including all new films that are shown theatrically through the end of 2018. We continue to do business with the Walt Disney Company globally on many fronts, including our ongoing relationship with Marvel TV.

According to the press release, The Walt’s acquisition of majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC. This means that it is able to launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018. After that, in 2019, it will be followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming.

This all appears US-centric at the moment. Although, I cannot see any reason why this move would not translate over to the UK and other territories.