In early August of this year, Disney announced that they'd be ending their deal with Netflix as part of an effort to launch their own streaming service. At the time, Disney's plan was to allow Netflix to stream their content until the start of the legendary studio's 2019 releases. It goes without saying that the report had caused concern among Netflix subscribers, as well as higher ups over at the vastly-popular streamer. During that time, Disney CEO Bob Igor said the following in reference to the launch of their planned service, "This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands."
In the weeks that followed Iger's announcement, Disney had remained in a state of flux about whether or not to allow Netflix to continue streaming their content. Then, earlier this morning during a question-and-answer session at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment conference, Iger had relayed the news that Disney has decided to stream its Marvel and Star Wars films on the company's yet-to-be-launched service. While the decision was to be expected, Iger threw down the Infinity Gauntlet with the words, “We’ve now decided we will put the Marvel and Star Wars movie on this app as well."
And there you have it, Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars fans. If you want to stream films like DOCTOR STRANGE or STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, you're eventually going to have to subscribe to Disney's streaming service that launches in 2019.
How do you feel about this? Are you prepared to plunk down another subscription fee to stream Disney-related content? Is Netflix's original programing and slate of rotating films and shows enough to keep you on-board? Will you perhaps subscribe to both services? Let us know where you stand in the comments section below.
For the moment, Marvel and Star Wars films are still available to stream on Netflix. As your attoney, I advise you to watch them while you still can.