A brand-new Disney+ streaming service that is set to be popular with parents is set to be launched worldwide in coming months including Australia.
Disney has said that the launch of Disney+ means that the company will remove all its titles from rival streaming platforms such as Netflix, which currently hosts Pixar films as well as partners worldwide.
In Australia Stan currently promotes Disney content.
Called Disney+ the new service will include film titles once restricted to the Disney Vault but instead will now include entire collection of films including Disney classic titles, such as Little Mermaid and Aladdin to The Jungle Book and Fantasia.
Other titles that were once restricted to the Vault included Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Pinocchio, and Cinderella.
CEO Bob Iger revealed the new service recently however what is not known is when the service will be released in Australia as several organisations such as Stan currently have streaming rights to Disney content.
Iger said that he intends to make Disney+ more competitive against Netflix, Amazon Prime and as popular titles like Aladdin and Cinderella, which were previously unavailable on any streaming platforms.
Disney+, which is slated to launch in 2019, will also feature live-action series from Star Wars, Marvel, High School Musical and Monsters, Inc.
‘It’s going to combine both the old and the new,’ Iger told investors,
In the past purchases of popular Disney titles would only be available for a certain period of time, after which they’d go back in the ‘Vault.’
The Vault concept was a marketing ploy to keep prices up.
What is not known at this stage is what the cost of the new Disney service will be.
There is speculation that Apple may bundle the new service with an announcement set to be made on March 25th US time.
Iger said that once the streaming service is available, the Vault will cease to exist.
‘The service, which I mentioned earlier is going to launch later this year, is going to combine what we call library product, movies, and television, with a lot of original product as well, movies and television,’ Iger said at an investor meeting in the USA.
He said that after launch it will house the entire Disney motion picture library, so the movies that you speak of that traditionally have been kept in a “vault” and brought out basically every few years will be on the service.
‘And then, of course, we’re producing a number of original movies and original television shows as well that will be Disney-branded,’ he added.
To power its new streaming service, Disney said it would pay US$1.58 billion to buy an additional 42 percent stake in video-streaming firm BAMTech.
The plan is for Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN, in app stores and from authorized Pay-TV partners.
CEO Bob Iger told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin that the new service ‘This represents a big strategic shift for the company.
When the news broke, Netflix downplayed the effect of Disney’s announcement, and said it would continue to do business with Disney globally, including its relationship with Disney’s Marvel TV however this relationship has already been terminated.
