The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney will be pulling its movies from Netflix, and will be launching a Disney streaming service of its own in 2019, the American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate said on Tuesday. It also said that they will launch an ESPN streaming service early next year.
“The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC and will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019,” they stated in their website.
However, Disney already owned a stake in BAMTech but will pay $1.58 billion for an additional 42 percent.
Details of the Disney streaming service are still sketchy. But as of the CEO of the company, Iger’s saying, it is assumed that if a movie is Pixar or Disney-branded, it will probably appear exclusively on the new service, including shows and movies made specifically for the service.
Iger called the initiatives “a strategic shift in the way we distribute our content.”
According to their official website, the new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the US for subscription-video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate, including Toy Story 4, the sequel to Frozen, and The Lion King from Disney live-action, along with other highly anticipated movies.
Disney also promised to make a significant investment in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form contents, and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service.
With this strategic shift, Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
