Walt Disney (US: DIS) is having a tough time dealing with shifts in the media landscape. In the third quarter of the group’s 2017 financial year its media networks struggled due to dwindling demand for cable TV, while the studio business reported a drop in revenue from blockbuster films. But Disney’s eponymous founder famously “never looked backwards for very long”. Like its namesake, the company is “moving forward, opening up new doors” – this time in the world of streaming. The group has acquired a majority stake in tech group BAMTech, which it will use to launch two new streaming services.
Streaming film and TV via broadband is an industry that has historically been dominated by Netflix (US: NFLX) and Amazon (US: AMZN). Now Disney will end its partnership with the former and instead broadcast its films on its own streaming service, which is due to launch in the US in 2019. Next year it will begin broadcasting its ESPN sports channels on a separate broadband-based network.
