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Disney to pull all its movies from Netflix and start own streaming service

The Walt Disney Company logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Walt Disney Company logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Disney has announced that it’s pulling all its movies from Netflix, ahead of plans to launch its own streaming service.

Netflix has had a deal in place with Disney since 2012, and shares in the company dropped around 3.5% following the news.

The cut-off won’t happen immediately, but with Disney’s 2019 films, which means while it will likely stream the next two ‘Star Wars’ movies, it won’t get the concluding part in the new trilogy.

A spokesperson for Netflix said: “We continue to do business with the Walt Disney Company on many fronts, including our ongoing deal with Marvel TV.

“US Netflix members will have access to Disney films on the service through to the end of 2019, including all new films that are shown theatrically through the end of 2018.”

FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, U.S., on January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, U.S., on January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Disney, meanwhile, plans to launch its new streaming service in 2019. It already has its own streaming service Disney Life in the UK, but it’s not yet clear whether the US service will be an expansion of that platform, or a completely new product.

“This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands,” said Disney boss Bob Iger.

He added that Disney has had a ‘good relationship’ with Netflix, and that having its own streaming platform gives the Mouse House ‘much greater control over our own destiny in a rapidly changing market’.

The service will stream ‘original movies, TV shows, and short-form content’, just in time for the releases of Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 4’, and ‘Frozen 2’.

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