Disney Is Launching Its Own Streaming Service And ESPN-Branded Service

Yesterday, The Walt Disney Company announced they have agreed to acquire majority ownership of BAMTech, a video streaming company. Disney previously owned 33% of BAMTech, but they have agreed to purchase an additional 42% of the company. Major League Baseball also owns part of BAMTech.

 

Disney’s announcement includes a statement from Robert A. Iger, CEO of The Walt Diseny Company, which reads:

 

“The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market. 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.”

 

This is obviously a big deal for Disney, as they are looking to shift and improve the company during a time of change and uncertainty. The company will be pulling its content from Netflix and will instead launch its own video streaming service 2019. According to CNBC, Netflix’s stock dropped 5% since the announcement.

 

In addition to that, The Walt Disney Company will launch an “ESPN-branded multi-sport service” that will offer 10,000 live events per year, to include the MLB, NHL, MLS, Grand Slam tennis, and college sports.

 

ESPN is losing subscribers at an alarming rate, and it’s only getting worse. Many people are turned off by the left-leaning bias and the insertion of politics into sports. Unless they change that—which it appears they have no intention of doing, as their non-sports-games programming has become unwatchable—they might find it difficult to get the number of people they would like to subscribe to the service.