Disney to close 100 TV channels in streaming shift
Walt Disney Co. plans to close 100 of its international TV channels this year as it marches toward a future where streaming services such as Disney+ are front and center.
Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek, speaking Monday at Jpmorgan
Chase & Co.’s technology and media conference, said the closures come in addition to the
30 foreign networks the company shuttered last year.
“The great majority of that content will migrate to Disney+,” Chapek said. “That continues to be a core strategy for us as we pivot toward direct-to-consumer.”
The company’s purge of networks last year included the Disney Channel in the UK, part of Chapek’s efforts to streamline and modernise the entertainment giant. This year, the company has added more content for grown-ups to its Disney+ offering in Europe, using the Star brand. Chapek said the majority of Disney+ customers in the region have begun watching the Star programming.
Disney introduced Disney+ Hotstar in India last year. That service, which features cricket matches and other local content, now accounts for 30 per cent of Disney+’s total subscriber count of 103.6 million globally. In April, meanwhile, Disney announced plans to close a number of its sports networks in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Chapek said the closures will depend on contracts the company has in individual markets. Profits from some of its traditional TV networks are helping pay for programming that can run on its streaming services including Hulu and ESPN+ in the US.
But consumers are increasingly choosing to watch content online, and Disney wants to stay ahead of the trend, Chapek said. “We don’t want to be on the back end of that wave,” he said. “We want to be on the front end of that wave.”