Marvel and Star Wars Will Be Exclusive To Disney Streaming

Bryan RipperNews

Marvel and Star Wars titles will be streamed exclusively on the new Disney streaming platform when it launches in late 2019, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

“I have described a very rich, treasure trove of content for this app,” Iger said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. “We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot.”

In addition to Disney, Marvel and Star Wars movies, the upcoming branded service will also have four to five original Disney series, as well as three to four exclusive Disney movies, Iger said. It will also have its existing television library. There is also a chance that international versions of the service will launch before the U.S. launch due to streaming rights clearances. Iger did not announce how much the service will cost.

Disney first announced its own streaming service during its latest earnings report in August. As a result, the company said it would be pulling its movies from Netflix starting in 2019. To power the service, Disney bought a majority stake in digital media company BAM Tech, upping the 33 percent investment it made in August 2016.

Over the next year and a half to two years, Iger said, he plans to focus on the direct-to-consumer streaming products the company announced a few weeks back — which includes an ESPN streaming platform in addition to the Disney service — and the transition process to onboard the next CEO.

Iger also said Disney’s EPS for the year would be roughly in line with fiscal year 2016, which sent the stock down 2 percent.

Story by Michelle Castillo
Source: CNBC