Since Disney started getting heavily into the streaming business, it took the decision to start taking back control of its content from other platforms like Netflix and make them only available on its own platforms like Hulu and Disney+.

The Walt Disney Company held its annual shareholder meeting today, and during a question and answer session, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about licensing content to other streaming services and was also asked about why Disney spent so much money getting back control of content from other platforms, i.e. like Netflix.

“In order to achieve the goal of getting into the streaming business very successfully, we felt we had to take control back of the content that we had licensed to third parties. At that point, most of it was going to Netflix and we actually enjoyed a good relationship with them over the time when we licensed content to them. But we licensed very valuable content, content that we felt we absolutely needed.”

Recently, Disney has started to licence out some of its content, such as “New Girl” and “Modern Family”, as Disney looks to make more profit from its content and get its streaming division out of the red.

Some Disney+ subscribers have been worried about Disney starting to licence out more of its content, rather than putting it onto Disney+, but during the annual shareholder meeting, Bob Iger confirmed that its main franchises, like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and Disney, wouldn’t be licensed out to other platforms.

“We’re not looking to license our core Marvel, Disney, Pixar or Star Wars product to third parties. We will consider on occasion licensing other product to third parties.”

This, however, does leave the door wide open for content from its other studios, like 20th Century Studios, to be occasionally licensed out.  Disney has been doing this with other linear networks for ages and continues to do so, but as Disney looks to make more profit, it seems Disney+ isn’t going to be the home of everything from the company in the future.

It’s not a huge surprise to hear Disney is looking at its non-branded content as a way of getting additional revenue from, especially following his comments earlier this year about curating general entertainment better and focusing on quality over quantity.

What do you think about Disney licensing out content?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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