Disney is shaking up the streaming sector today with news it will launch a streaming service of its own in 2019.
Disney confirms it will end its theatrical distribution deal with Netflix beginning in 2019 to feed its releases to the new Disney-branded streaming service. The company will also launch an ESPN streaming service early next year.
In order to do this, the company is spending $1.58 billion to acquire a majority of BAMTech, the streaming technology company owned by the Major League Baseball-owned online company MLBAM.
This new Disney service promises to be “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.”
That includes library content from its Disney and Pixar libraries as well as Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD television programming along with an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service.
