During yesterday's quarterly earnings call, Disney announced that they will debut their own online streaming service, somewhat like Netflix. They already have a streaming service in the UK, which debuted about a year ago and hasn't exactly been a smash hit Disney Announces Its Own Streaming Service, Buys Larger Stake in BAMTech - LaughingPlace.com In a lot of ways, this era is similar to when The Disney Channel launched originally. Similar to the original difficulties with getting cable subscribers, in order for Disney to get subscribers, they'll need to not only convince people that they have a good product, but also on the general concept of streaming In a way, this seems sort of like an unbundling of normal cable subscriptions. Instead of having 2 or 3 levels to choose from, we'll be able to select whether we want the Disney/ESPN family of channels, or the NBC/Universal family of channels, etc. Personally, I don't see this as a step forward, but it could evolve as more of these services come to fruition I saw an interesting discussion on FB about what sort of programs people would need to have available in order to convince them to sign up. For me, it would need to be more than just the "classics" we've all seen countless times (and already own on hard copy) and the lousy shows that currently air on The Disney Channel. The early days of TDC had a lot of innovative and off-beat programming that leveraged underutilized aspects of the company (like the parks) to create unique content that only Disney could manage. I'm not saying I need reruns of 80's TV shows, but they could serve as a good blueprint for how to convince people to make the jump from cable to streaming
I really don't get that decission. Amazon and Netflix are already well established in the streaming business, so I can't see people ending their subscriptions just because they want to see Disney movies. Disney hasn't even decided yet what happens with their biggest cashcows Marvel and Lucasfilm. There's still a chance that these movies might stay at Netflix. This miht be far fetched, but earlier this year there have been some rumours about Disney taking over Netflix. Maybe they were really in talks and they just couldn't clos the deal because of differences. Perhaps that's Disney's way to build up more pressure on Netflix so that both companies still end up together. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, would be a perfect successor for Iger, at least in my opinion. Since this announcement doesn't concern continental Europe, I'm not really worried about losing the Disney movies on Netflix. I also don't think Disney will establish such a service in continental Europe. So I'm pretty sure I will stick to Netflix, Sky and regular BluRays over the next couple of years.
As with all things, Disney sees someone else having success with their product and they want in on the action, similar to the new app-based Minnie Van service in WDW. Why let Netflix profit when Disney thinks they can do better themselves? (though I really doubt most people would pay more than a couple bucks a month for this as a standalone product, probably much less than they currently pay for various Disney-owned channels under their bundled cable contracts) Although Netflix has had a lot of success, I don't think Reed Hastings is really proven enough to run TWDC. There's a huge difference between a clever upstart streaming service and the world's largest entertainment company. I agree that the next CDO would e an outsider and offer fresh perspective and new ideas, but he seems like he'd be too big of a risk to me
