Does Disney’s Streaming Service Finally Have A Name?

It looks like Disney’s announced streaming service finally has a name. Drumroll please… Disney Play! At least that’s the name CEO Bob Iger has dubbed the service internally. In a wide-ranging piece from Variety, some of the biggest heads of media discussed how Netflix has revolutionized television, and Iger released some new information about his secretive streaming service.

Rather than dealing with the middle men of traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD), the new Netflix-like streaming service will allow Disney to directly offer its content to consumers. But there’s a catch. In order to make this streaming service a reality, Disney will have to invest heavily in the technology for the service (it’s already spent a reported $2.6 billion) and its library while sacrificing the profits the company is currently making on its content. This includes the reported $300 million from Netflix Disney is making annually through the company’s exclusive deal. Iger referred to the planned launch of Disney Play as “the biggest priority of the company during calendar [year] 2019.”

But it’s not all fretting about profits and Wall Street for Disney. The new streaming service will be the streaming home for Netflix’s current catalog of first-stream movies as well as Captain Marvel, Dumbo, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Frozen 2, and a new Star Wars. That also doesn’t count whatever original projects the media giant has in store for franchises like Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. Those offerings paired a price point that’s reportedly less than Netflix’s is a good sell.

“We have the luxury of programming this product with programs from those brands or derived from those brands, which obviously creates a demand and gives us the ability to not necessarily be in the volume game, but to be in the quality game,” Iger said.

But what’s to become of all of the Disney, ABC, and in the future Fox shows that are streaming somewhere else? For the moment, Disney Play sounds like it will be working alongside other Disney streaming properties like Hulu and Freeform rather than competing against them. Other Disney and Fox owned movies and shows will not be removed from their current SVOD and international licensing deal because its too expensive to renegotiate those contracts. We’ll see how long that will last.