Disney will break away from Netflix in 2019 to start its own streaming service

For the last couple of years, Netflix and Disney have had a streaming partnership, with Netflix obtaining exclusive rights to stream new movies after they leave the box office. Unfortunately, this deal is going to come to an end in 2019, as Disney wants to cut out the middle man and have you sign up for its own streaming service.

This week, Disney announced that it is going to spend around $1.58 billion buying up a 42 percent share in BAMTech, a company that specialises in online streaming infrastructure and software. First, Disney will be debuting its streaming platform with a dedicated ESPN streaming service in 2018. Then in 2019, the company will be launching its own Disney branded version based on the same technology.

 

So what does this mean? Well it means starting in 2019, new Disney movies will no longer show up on Netflix, requiring you to sign up for the new service in order to watch on-demand. It also means that eventually, all Disney movies will be removed from Netflix but as Recode reports, that doesn’t necessarily mean that every movie Netflix had will appear on Disney’s own service. Some of them may just sit in a vault for a while.

For the time being, Netflix still has some major movies to look forward to, including Marvel’s next Avengers movie and the Star Wars Han Solo spin-off if it meets its Summer 2018 release date. From then on though, future movies won’t make it to Netflix. However, it is important to note that the Marvel/Netflix TV show deal will continue on as planned, with new seasons of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and The Defenders.

This move likely won’t come as a shock to Netflix. After all, Disney began investing in BAMTech some time ago with plans to bring ESPN ‘on-demand’. It always seemed like eventually, the same streaming tech could carry over to Disney’s own service.

KitGuru Says: As a long-term Netflix subscriber, this is disappointing news. After all, I don’t want to sign up for yet another streaming service. That said, if Disney can fill its service up with Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and its own movies, then it could be very compelling.

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