Disney’s streaming service has long been in the pipeline, but recent reports make the shift away from Netflix seem more imminent than ever.
One of the biggest draws of the Disney’s exclusive service was the prospect of having the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Star Wars franchise on one site.
Here’s why new Disney streaming service won’t have your favourite Star Wars moments.
Long before the mouse-house thought about launching its own streaming service, it sold the rights to a variety of Star Wars movies to the American AT&T Inc. Turner Broadcasting.
The eight year deal allowed the movies to air on USA television channels like TBS and TNT, according to Bloomberg.
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Turner paid £216.23 million ($275 million) in 2016 for the six-episode saga released between 1977 and 2005 — A New Hope through Revenge of the Sith.
As of time of writing, Turner has the rights to air the films on its cable networks and online until 2024.
If they sell the rights back to Disney they (understandably) would want financial compensation and replacement content.
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According to the Bloomberg source, Disney’s inquiry about buying back the rights was met with resistance.
Additionally, the same source claimed talks haven’t advanced beyond this initial early inquiry.
Disney would have to make plenty of concessions to Turner in order to regain many of its prized Star Wars titles.
But wait, there’s more.
While many of the older (and perhaps less popular) Star Wars movies will be missing from the in-house platform, all Star Wars movies released by Disney before 2019 won’t be available either.
This was confirmed by Disney CEO Bob Iger during an earnings call as reported by via Variety.
“The marketing will make clear that it’s not going to be on there,” Iger said.
“But Star Wars movies that come out in 2019 and later, you’ll find them there [on our service].”
How this impacts non-US viewers remains to be seen, as the Disney service has yet to cross the international licensing bridge.
For now, UK fans will have to wait until Sky plays a Star Wars marathon – at which point all titles will be available on Now TV for the lucky ones who have it.