BURBANK, CA — The Walt Disney Company announced Tuesday it will launch an ESPN-branded sports streaming service in early 2018, followed by a Disney-branded movie and TV service in 2019, Variety.com reported.
The new ESPN-branded OTT service will let users choose from specific sports leagues and games and will offer some 10,000 events not carried on ESPN’s linear channels, according to Variety.com. Disney’s movie and TV streaming service will feature both Disney- and Pixar-branded titles, as well as original movie and TV series productions and some library product.
This strategic shift means that Disney is ending the pay TV output deal it signed with Netflix that began in 2016, Variety.com reported.
Disney’s streaming push is being enabled by its acquisition of a majority stake in BAMTech, the video streaming platform from MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media unit of Major League Baseball.
The full Variety.com report can be read here.
