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Disney Describes Streaming Plans, From ‘Star Wars’ to Pay-Per-Sports

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All new-release movies made by Walt Disney Studios will be on the movie and TV service, while sports programming may come á la carte.
LOS ANGELES — Disney ’s two planned streaming services took clearer shape on Thursday, as the entertainment giant vowed to bring “Star Wars” and Marvel movies to one and proposed a novel approach to the other: sports á la carte.
“We’ re going to launch big, and we’ re going to launch hot, ” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference in New York.
Last month, Disney said that it would build two Netflix-style services to address structural challenges to its vast television businesses — namely that more consumers, particularly younger ones, are foregoing pricey cable subscriptions. At the time, Disney said one streaming service would focus on sports programming from ESPN and the other would offer movies and television shows, but did not divulge much beyond that.
On Thursday, Mr. Iger said that the company’s Hollywood-oriented service would be introduced in “late 2019” and would include all new-release movies made by Walt Disney Studios, which includes Disney’s core film factory as well as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. That means the “Star Wars” and Marvel movies will eventually leave Netflix, which has been paying Disney handsomely for streaming rights.
Also available on Disney’s entertainment service will be older films from its vaunted library, which includes more than 400 titles.
Mr. Iger said Disney is also working on five original, live-action, Disney-branded movies that will be delivered exclusively through the service. Additionally, it will offer a handful of original Disney-branded shows, several original TV movies, recent seasons of Disney Channel hits and 7,000 episodes of older shows.
The service will also roll out overseas.
“A very, very rich treasure trove” is how Mr. Iger described the offerings. He declined to say how much subscriptions would cost.
The ESPN service will arrive sooner — “sometime this spring, ” Mr. Iger said — and include, as previously disclosed, thousands of events not currently shown on ESPN, including hockey, baseball, tennis, college sports. But Mr. Iger said that Disney is hoping to provide a different buying model, at least eventually. Rather than charging one price for subscriptions, Disney’s sports service may allow users granular control over what they pay to watch — “a season, a league, maybe a conference, ” Mr. Iger said.
“Think about iTunes, ” he hinted.
Disney also used the investor conference to set earnings expectations for its 2017 fiscal year, which will conclude in a few weeks. Mr. Iger said that earnings per share would be “roughly in line” with results for 2016, when it had per-share profit of $5.72. Higher costs related to a new N. B. A. programming deal and the lack of a major “Star Wars” movie will contribute to Disney’s flat 2017 results. Mr. Iger also said that Disney will feel some financial effects from Hurricane Irma, which has disrupted Disney Cruise itineraries.
Disney shares fell 4 percent after his remarks, to about $97.51 in midday trading. Contributing to the sell-off may have been a warning from Comcast at the same conference: Matt Strauss, a Comcast executive vice president, said his company expected to lose 100,000 to 150,000 subscribers in the third quarter. Analysts had expected a gain. Comcast shares traded down 7 percent, to roughly $38.26.

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