The entertainment giant are set to pull all of their content from Netflix and start their own streaming service, in addition to launching a new streaming service for ESPN early next year.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney will launch their service in 2019 through streaming technology company BAMTech. Disney already owned a stake in the company but will pay a whopping $1.58 billion for an additional 42% - making them the largest stakeholder.
Details of the new service seemed complicated when the announcement was made by CEO Bob Iger today. He said that if a movie is Pixar, or Disney-branded, then it will probably be pulled from all other streaming services and appear exclusively on the new Disney one. However, he didn't go into detail about what this means for Marvel or the Disney-owned Lucasfilm. After all, Marvel has several deals with Netflix and things could get very complicated!
For now fans still have access to Disney content on streaming services including Netflix and Stan, however they will presumably be forced to shell out extra cash for access to this content in the not-so-distant future.
While we're excited about a service dedicated solely to our fave Disney flicks, the push to create more "personalised" and branded streaming services is not doing our wallets any favours. After all, many Australian's sign up to the likes of Netflix to avoid the high cost of pay-TV! Time will tell how expensive this new platform is...
This article originally appeared on In Style.