Earlier this week Disney dealt a crushing blow to Netflix, and shook up the entire entertainment industry, when they revealed plans to launch their own streaming service in 2019. As part of that, they would be ending their exclusive deal with Netflix and removing their titles from the service. Ouch. That's Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar...a huge chunk of what every household wants to see.
Of course, Netflix hopes to keep things as they are, and their Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has revealed they are in "active negotiations" to at least retain Lucasfilm and Marvel properties. Of course they are. They'd be silly to give in so easily. And there is always the chance a deal can be worked out. Disney's service will be made available in the U.S. but have said international could be a different story, worked out on a case-by-case basis. That seems like a sweet area for Netflix to make themselves useful. Plus, Disney may decide to launch their new titles exclusively on their own network before making them available elsewhere.
Of course, Disney is infamous for keeping their titles locked away in the "vault" for years before making them available for home release. So who knows how this will end up? [Reuters]
