The acquisition still requires regulatory approval. Disney was already a major investor in BAMTech, and today it’s making an even bigger investment - of $1.58 billion - giving it a 75 percent stake in the company.

“We continue to do business with the Walt Disney Company on many fronts, including our ongoing deal with Marvel TV,” said a spokesperson for Netflix.ĭisney is buying most of BAMTech and will also launch an ESPN streaming serviceĭisney’s streaming service will be built off technology from BAMTech, the MLB-founded video streaming platform. That means Netflix should be able to stream the next two Star Wars movies, but it’ll miss out on the new trilogy’s final installment. Disney says it plans to cut Netflix off starting with the studio’s 2019 films, and Netflix says it’ll be able to keep all the Disney movies it gets through the end of that year.

Netflix won’t lose its Disney movies right away. Disney already makes it hard to get a lot of its top movies - requiring people to purchase, rather than rent, a film for instance - so it makes sense that we’re seeing the company try to draw even bigger profits from streaming. The deal only kicked into effect last year, so Netflix is barely seeing any benefit here.Īt the same time, it’s a natural step for Disney, which has a huge library of valuable movies and shows to offer. The move is a real blow to Netflix, which secured a valuable streaming deal with Disney back in 2012 - before streaming had really taken off. It intends to launch the service in 2019. Disney will end its distribution deal with Netflix and launch its own streaming service, the company announced today.

Disney movies from 2017