With Disney’s Streaming Service in the works and their integration of the recently acquired 20th century Fox assets on the horizon, big questions are left about what content the streaming service will provide. Well during Variety’s Entertainment Summit at CES 2018 on Thursday, Disney-ABC TV president Ben Sherwood was able to share some details.
The streaming service is set to launch in 2019 and with the massive amount of titles Disney has acquired in recent years, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and now 20th Century Fox’s catalog, it seems Disney has put itself in a prime position to rival Netflix.
Sherwood, said that his division will be the largest contributor to Disney’s subscription service and that the company overall is well poised to manage the transition to next-generation TV in his statement at the summit.
“We’re going through this unbelievable moment of transformation in how we take television and distribute it,” said Sherwood.
The exec explained that Disney-ABC TV will supply between seven and eight thousand episodes from its own library. He also confirmed they would be providing original content for the service that would include 3-4 feature-length films and 3-4 regular series and he also touted a “High School Musical” reboot, with the original producers on board.
Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger already confirmed a live action Star Wars Series and a TV series based on the 2001 Pixar film Monsters Inc. were in the plans for the future streaming service, at a quarterly earnings call with investors.
Sherwood, declined to comment on the pending acquisition by Disney of 20th Century Fox assets, including cable networks, in a report from Variety. Disney CEO Bob Iger has “laid out the strategic vision” for the deal, “and we’ll leave it at that”, he also told them.
We’ll have to wait and see, but we’re sure you’ll end up seeing many of the various new properties Disney has acquired airing on their new streaming service in addition to their already existing massive library.