Disney has officially absorbed Fox Studios and more recently has announced the launch of it’s streaming platform Disney+.  What does this mean for streaming services across the board? In my humble opinion? The F$%&$& end of days!

Yes, I like anyone else, am very excited for this to go live in November. We are talking every Disney movie, Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel all in one place! Not to mention the original (and damn expensive) content that will be premiering as well. However, with the birth of this new streaming service we could be seeing the extinction of others.

For years now Netflix has pretty much had no challengers for the grip they hold on streaming entertainment. However, Disney going independent means all of their properties on Netflix have either been/will be removed or have been cancelled (all Marvel series).  Oh, and they’re not the only ones getting ready for battle!

As a response to Disney’s announcement, Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced that they TOO will be launching their own platform. This means that all Warner properties on Netflix will also be pulled. That includes The Office and Friends (which Netflix recently paid 100 million to renew their streaming contract of the series).

We all suspected this day would come, didn’t we? This is another step, I believe, in the direction towards death of cable television. Where studios/channels that survive will convert to streaming services.  Though we are ways away from those deaths, the immediate consequences will fall on other streaming platforms. It seems that one could already be heading to life support…

DC Universe, the platform launched last fall, has been rumored to be going through some issues; Can it really compete?

The Mandalorian series for Disney+ has been said to have a budget of 100 million… This means we are going to be getting a film quality Star Wars TELEVISION series! The three original Marvel limited series announced (The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, WandaVision) will have all of the actors reprising their roles meaning film stars heading to tv and an increase of the landscape of the MCU. I would assume, though their budgets won’t be 100 million, they WILL be getting the film quality treatment.

Therefore, can DC Universe where their original shows (Titans and Doom Patrol) though excellent steps away from traditional cable television, really compete where they still have the taste of television quality?

Well, it was announced yesterday that production on the latest addition to the platform, Swamp Thing, was stopped abruptly with their original episode order of 13 brought down to 10. Whether this has anything to do with the new Warner streaming or the show just sucks- who knows!

It would seem the most likely outcome will be that what success the DC Universe originals have will be absorbed by the larger Warner platform.

For now, we will just have to wait and see…