Entertainment and mass media conglomerate Walt Disney Company has announced a deal with tech giant Amazon for distributing its upcoming subscription-based video-on-demand (SVOD) platform Disney+ on Amazon Fire TV devices. Apart from Amazon Fire TV devices, Disney+ will also feature on LG and Samsung smart televisions, announced Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger on Thursday.
The new Disney+ app on Fire TV can also be accessed by Amazon's voice assistant device, Alexa. Disney+ will have a worldwide launch on November 12 and will also feature old and new content from Disney, Pixar, Fox, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. Priced at $7 a month, Disney+ will launch on November 12 in the US, Canada and the Netherlands, November 19 in Australia and New Zealand and on March 31, 2020, in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.
Disney's new deal with Amazon comes amid reports of strife between the two companies over advertising rights in Disney's apps, including those for ABC, ESPN and the Disney channel. The new deal is likely to expand Disney's distribution worldwide as Amazon's Fire TV stick is the world's second- largest TV app distributor, next to Roku. Apart from Amazon, Samsung and LG, Disney+ will be available in Microsoft, Google and Apple.
Disney+ will feature shows and movies from Disney's main entertainment studios such as Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic and select content from 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone Pictures. The new OTT platform will operate alongside streaming platform Hulu, which is also owned by Disney.
Bob Iger also announced that Disney owned-FX will also be developing new content exclusively for Hulu. Apart from its old shows like American Horror Story, Fargo and Sons of Anarchy, four new shows are in the pipeline, starring Academy award winners Jeff Bridges and Cate Blanchett. Recently, Pixar announced that it will be developing six show animated short films for Disney+. With its launch, Disney+ is more likely to give tough competition to Netflix and Amazon Prime.
