Disney Is Removing Tons Of Streaming Content
Disney CFO Christine McCarthy recently announced that the company would be removing content from streaming platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu
Disney+ subscribers will likely be getting a lot less for their money soon. Disney CFO Christine McCarthy recently announced that the company would be removing content from streaming platforms (the company owns a 67% stake in Hulu as well) along with producing less new content overall (via Screen Rant). It seems like the goal is to have a more curated platform of content that only includes the most popular and profitable shows.
At this time, it’s unclear what content will be pulled from Disney, but the cuts will likely take place after the content merge between Hulu and Disney+. Though both streaming services will continue to remain separate, subscribers will be seeing content from both services on one combined app. Essentially, if you have a subscription to both accounts, you don’t have to switch between apps to watch the content you want.
When Disney pulls content from the streaming platforms, it seems unlikely that major franchises like Marvel and Star Wars will be affected. Also, it seems likely that anything that was produced as original content for the streaming platform will stay on. It’s possible they’ll be looking to cut down on licensed content on the Hulu side of things.
As far as slowing down on original content, this lines up with previous statements Disney made after former CEO Bob Chapek reportedly overspent on streaming content. Rather than pumping out new Marvel and Star Wars content at the rate they were making it previously, we should expect to see far fewer projects on a yearly basis. It remains to be seen how this content cutback strategy will affect original shows outside of these major IPs.
Amidst these content cutbacks, Disney is also facing some unexpected production delays due to the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike. While we won’t know the full breadth of the production delays for a while, we do know that production on Daredevil: Born Again was recently shut down. As the WGA strike continues, it’s possible other projects will be shut down as well.
While Disney is slowing down on content, that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty of new shows coming our way. For Star Wars, we’ll still be getting the first season of Ahsoka and possibly the first season of Skeleton Crew before the year is over. Past 2023, we still have the new series The Acolyte and the second season of Andor.
For Marvel, fans can look forward to Disney releasing Secret Invasion, Echo, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, What If…? Season 2, X-Men 97′, and Loki Season 2 before the year is over. Beyond that, fans can still expect to see Spider-Man: Freshman Year, Marvel Zombies, and the aforementioned Daredevil: Born Again. It’s possible that these content cutbacks could also mean that the House of Mouse will be more apprehensive to renew some of these shows for second seasons.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what content is cut from Disney’s streaming platforms. In any case, it’s unlikely that subscribers are going to be thrilled with the changes. We’ll keep you updated on any new developments in this story.
