Disney Pulls Content From Netflix As Exclusivity Wars Escalate - Could Ignite Piracy?

[Len]

Disney this week announced it would be pulling its content from Netflix's streaming services as it ponders launching its own, exclusive streaming service. Disney CEO Bob Iger tells CNBC that the company had a "good relationship" with Netflix, but decided to move its content -- including Star Wars titles and popular Pixar films, off of the platform. Ultimately, Disney says it will launch its own streaming video platform to host the content, with a launch slated for sometime next year.

"This represents a big strategic shift for the company," Iger said to CNBC. "We felt that having control of a platform we've been very impressed with after buying 33 percent of it a year ago would give us control of our destiny."
On the one hand, if you really like Disney content, this might be a good deal for you -- since you should be able to nab most Pixar and other Disney title in one place.

On the other hand, there's a growing issue with a rising array of exclusivity silos, forcing customers to sign up for an endless array of streaming services to obtain their favorite content. Users are already cutting the traditional Cable TV cord at an increasing rate because they no longer believe traditional cable offers a good value. Replacing that with a growing list of monthly subscription services only replaces one mechanism with high costs -- with another.

The end result? Many users could return to piracy if they find the high costs, exclusivity silos, and odd licensing windows make it too hard to find the content they're looking for. That would be a notable shame given how much work it took to wean many users off of piracy and on to "legitimate" streaming services in the first place.

Netflix, meanwhile, saw its stock dip 5% at one point yesterday on the news. Netflix originally signed the distribution deal bringing a few highly-anticipated titles (like Star Wars: Rogue One) back in 2012, but it didn't take effect until just last year. While Netflix has tried to offset these concerns with a flood of original content, there have been growing annoyance that the overall Netflix catalog has shrunk in both volume and quantity in recent years.