Earlier this week, Disney rocked the industry by announcing they would be launching their own streaming service in 2019, but the details are far from hammered out. It’s either going to be single home for all things under the mouse house umbrella, or the company might parcel out Marvel and “Star Wars” onto their own proprietary services. Either way, it’s a blow to Netflix who have been a regular home for Disney’s blockbuster titles and they’re hoping to keep things that way.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos revealed to Reuters that the company is “still in active discussions” with Disney to hang onto Marvel and Lucasfilm releases beyond 2019. It’s not an impossible notion to consider.
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Firstly, Disney has already said their new service will launch in the U.S., but that global territories will be worked out on a case by case basis. This still leaves Netflix in a terrific position to rep Disney content internationally for years to come. Moreover, an arrangement could be made where new Marvel and Lucasfilm titles launch exclusively on Disney’s platform before being shared elsewhere. I can’t imagine that Disney would want to wall off the garden of their library completely from other services, but they can definitely pick and choose which titles go where and for how long. And then there’s the simple matter that Disney might find that customers who watch their content on Netflix, may not necessarily sign up for a new service just for Marvel and “Star Wars” content.
Sarandos noted that it’s “a natural evolution” for Disney to go down their own streaming path, but it’s in his best interest to play nice with Bob Iger. The Disney honcho has also said that it’s a possibility that Marvel and “Star Wars” fare could wind up on on a service other than Disney and Netflix’s after 2019. Either way, the studio knows they are sitting on two huge, lucrative properties, and there’s no doubt they’ll be courting a lot of big time offers from Netflix and their competitors.