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Welcome to the midweek news hump. Aaron in for Adam today.
On Monday came the news that Netflix was buying Millarworld, an upstart comic book publisher founded by former Marvel star writer Mark Millar. Way back then, it seemed like another smart move in owning more source material for original programming. Amid the commentary, independent analyst Jan Dawson noted that the acquisition was also a hedge against the day that Netflix’s deal with Disney for Marvel-based movies expired. “Perhaps Netflix has already had signals…that (Disney) won’t renew,” he wrote.
Well, it didn’t take long for Dawson’s take to look extremely smart. On Tuesday night, perhaps wanting to make sure his company’s poor current results weren’t the big story, Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that plans were underway to create a Netflix-like streaming service using all of Disney’s (DIS) many assets. And, oh yeah, Disney would be exercising an option in 2019 to terminate its deal putting much of that content on Netflix. Iger called the move “an extremely important, very, very significant strategic shift.”
The initial reaction, as it often is, was one of overreaction. The “kill Netflix” headlines were just being written as Netflix’s (NFLX) stock quickly dropped 5% or more.
But, as already seems to be the case, there’s plenty of room in the future of TV for multiple great video services. Just like we once had HBO and Cinemax and Starz on our cable box, now we can have Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and, eventually, Disney on our Roku boxes. And like in the prior era, those services that succeed will do so with a mix of original content and enough filler that they’ve licensed from others to keep customers satisfied.
One great trick of the old world, the universal listing of all shows across all channels, has yet to make it to the new world, however. I’d dearly like to know if that movie that my kids are about to buy or rent on one service is already available, perhaps for free, on another service. Right now there’s no way to do that other than a cumbersome search using each service’s individual search bars. Apple (AAPL), TiVo (TIVO), and others are trying to sign everyone up for universal search but there’s a long, long way to go.
