More shows and films are set to get the chop from Disney+, as it announces further ‘impairment charges’.
The story so far: as part of its wide-ranging cost cutting measure across its business, Disney has taken the axe to a whole host of existing films and shows on its Disney+ streaming service. The service’s losses are regularly over a billion, and last month, it removed over 40 productions from its Disney+ service as part of its cost-cutting drive. Surprisingly high profile and recent productions too, including for instance the TV show Willow.
Disney has paid what’s called a ‘content impairment charge’ to rid its service of these productions, and the firm had allocated a staggering $1.5-$1.8bn to not show you them. Given they’re Disney productions too, for the moment, there’s no other way to see a lot fo the stuff that’s been removed.
Thing is, it looks like there’s more to come. Disney has filed new numbers with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in the States, and it’s revealed there a further content impairment charge on the way. It’s a lesser hit than last time, but there’s still allocated some $400m before the end of the financial quarter.
That suggests a more modest list of shows and films are being removed, and Disney has given no further detail. But it’s put aside enough money to scrub another ten or so.
Here’s the key sentence: “The Company is continuing its review and currently anticipates additional produced content will be removed from its DTC and other platforms, largely during the remainder of its third fiscal quarter. As a result, the Company currently estimates it may incur further impairment charges of up to approximately $0.4 billion related to produced content. “
DTC stands for direct to consumer, by the way.
Cheery times, then. All the Star Wars and Marvel stuff will be safe, of course, but anything a tier below it? Well, that ‘produced content’ might just be under threat.
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