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Streaming Wars? by Karl F. Cohen
A new warrior, the Mandalorian, has arrived to lead Disney's attack on Netflix in what will be called the 'Streaming Wars'. Image: courtesy Disney
THE STREAMING SCENE IS GETTING
very crowded. Indeed, one trade paper claims that “Netflix faces a crunch year as Disney, Apple and more vie for the streaming crown.”
Another article announced, “The Disney+ series 'The Mandalorian'—" a $100 million, eight-episode “Star Wars” spin-off, which launched on November 12th "—featuring Baby Yoda, is a threat to Netflix. Netflix is facing its sternest challenge since it embarked on the path to global streaming dominance.” Hence, it could lose as many as 16 million subscribers to cash-rich rivals such Disney.
One reason Netflix should be very worried is that Disney+ charges about half the monthly cost of Netflix’s most popular tier—$6.99-a-month compared to $12.99—not to mention its immense catalog of family-friendly fare.
A few months ago Netflix predicted it would have 200 million subscribers by the end of this year. Will they? Will Disney+ hit its expected 50 million subscriptions by that time? Disney+ gave millions of Verizon subscribers one year’s free service. That's nice but will they become paying subscribers?
These are all questions crucial to the future of streaming.
At present, Netflix is said to have in their catalog ten times as many films and TV shows as Disney and they are increasing their billion-dollar budget for new content.
Hence, when Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, heard they got several major Golden Globe nominations he supposedly said, “We’re totally focused on making about 160 million people around the world happy every night, and that’s all we think about.”
Meanwhile, Disney itself is getting a run for its money as Apple TV+ launched their services last November in 100 countries at a monthly subscription price of $4.99 a month.
In April Comcast will unveil the Peacock streaming service, featuring products from the Universal film studio. Universal owns the “Jurassic Park” and “Fast and Furious” franchises.
A month later, WarnerMedia plans to launch its service. They own several major franchises including “Lord of the Rings”, “Harry Potter”, DC Comics (that includes Batman and Superman), plus HBO shows from “Game of Thrones” to “Big Little Lies”.
I envision price wars, mergers, service mergers and other changes as an increasing number of media outlets vie for and try to build streaming empires. Hopefully the corporations will co-exist peacefully and be able to give their audiences a wide range of products to enjoy well into the future.
Karl F. Cohen—who decided to add his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached . Posted on Feb 20, 2020 - 06:58 PM