The latest stage of the streaming battle sees Disney opting to take Netflix’s money for some of its shows…
After years where they’ve been battling each other in a race to see who can get the most subscribers, Netflix and Disney+ are having a little moment where they stop and have a nice chat with one another. That, or Disney – which has faced testing times over the last year or two – has decided to simply take some of Netflix’s money.
Over the coming months, a bunch of TV shows to which Disney has the rights are to start appearing on the Netflix service instead. There’s some high profile names on the list as well, not least Lost, the famed show of the early 2000s with the equally famed ending.
Other titles involved in the deal are Prison Break, the hit comedy How I Met Your Mother, Archer, This Is Us and White Collar, with more to follow in due course.
The initial deal runs for 18 months and will cover 14 TV shows, primarily material from the Fox library of programmes that Disney acquired.
Furthermore, the deal is a non-exclusive one, so it does mean too that Disney is likely to continue streaming some of these shows as well. Just that they’ll also, going forward, be gradually available on the Netflix service as well.
For the moment, the deal is an exclusive one to the US, but it does mark a strategic step change for Disney. It’s likely to be the start of many similar deals going forward. After all, its library of shows is not on the small side, and as it closes its deal to purchase the Hulu service in the US (costing it the best part of $10bn), a few extra quid here and there isn’t going to do any harm.
More news on further shows being licensed as we hear it.
