In news that had rocked the industry to its core, Disney announced late last year that it would, eventually, be pulling its movies from Netflix and starting a new streaming service solely composed of the Disney content — past, present, and future — which actually is pretty gigantic and could easily fill any streaming service. The goal was, maybe still is, to launch the branded streaming service in 2019, which will be home for all their feature films and TV shows. It’s a huge move, but one that was inevitable.
However, a roadblock has just been widened for Disney to include its most prized possession in their streaming service: Star Wars.
Bloomberg is reporting that when Disney sold the TV broadcast rights for the original Star Wars films to Turner Broadcasting in 2016, it also sold it the streaming rights ... Until 2024. TBS, which is an AT&T-owned broadcaster, will not be giving up the rights to Disney anytime soon, at least not without the overblown, desired price that they are asking for.
TBS shows the "Star Wars" movies a ton these days. It's their new "Shawshank Redemption."
A major blow for Disney. Star Wars was supposed to feature heavily in their streaming plans [with live action and animated series already in the works.] And so, for the first five years, Disney's streaming company will have to do without the first six installments of the Star Wars franchise.
There are no details yet on price points or plans, but it does seem like for now, Disney’s streaming service will be in the U.S. only (which may mean their partnership with Netflix in other territories, such as Canada, may continue until the various rights issues are untangled). However, we may get some insight into how it all works when Disney launches their separate, ESPN-branded sports streaming service next year.
Nowadays, everyone wants to jump into the future and start their own streaming service, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. However, Disney has the content to back it up. The times are certainly changing, and it looks like the dream of cord cutting to save on cable costs is becoming slightly warped. If people started purchasing multiple streaming subscriptions, those costs add up, and it would be no different than paying for cable. Is it inevitable that we will all soon ditch cable and just subscribe to multiple streaming services? The possibility is there.