Get ready for a big dose of streaming pixie dust. It appears that Netflix and Disney’s relationship is growing stronger yet again. A blog post made on the company’s site on May 23rd by Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos states “ from September, Netflix will become the exclusive US pay TV home of the latest films from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.”
What does this mean? Well, basically, Netflix will be able to exclusively stream Disney movies not long after their release in theaters; about seven to nine months. This might seem like a long time, however, most films aren’t released on home media for at least 3 months after their theatrical debut. So, in reality that gives the movie about three to four months on the market before moving to the streaming service. All Disney films released this year and beyond are part of the deal.
This deal with Netflix originated in 2012, however Disney still had a deal in place with Starz that does not expire until later this year. Disney is the first major studio to stream its films to TV viewers through Netflix as oppose to premium cable networks.
Netflix currently offers a limited selection of Disney content. Unfortunately, specific movies and shows coming to the service were not mentioned in the blog post and it should be noted that DVD rentals were not covered in the deal.
