It seems that corporate giant Walt Disney Company may be looking at another large purchase after Marvel and Star Wars, this time in the form of Netflix. Tech Crunch has reported speculation of Marvel‘s parent company to be interested in closing a deal with the popular online streaming service.
The talk has been growing more consistent since Time Warner‘s buyout from AT&T for $85 billion, which includes the likes of HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. properties, which includes the DC film properties. This would provide an amplified distribution of its media, and to have Disney, the new parent of Marvel and its cinematic universe, wanting to close in a deal like this as well shows a bigger battle of comic book film titans happening.
Premium content is all the more rampant for this generation, especially in regards to exclusives. Netflix has already impressed its market with its Q3 report and shows no signs of slowing down, as well as the announcement that competitor Showmi is shutting down by the end of November. Perhaps with Disney claiming rights, licences to certain content can last more permanently, especially those hoping to binge the vast line of MCU films while new ones are released. This would make for a well-thought consumer appeal. After all, Netflix has shown much promise with being a potential asset when they partnered with Marvel for its joint TV show programs such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
Disney has shown experience with being a mother company as well, with their hands in many cookie jars such as Touchstone Pictures, LucasFilm, Pixar, The Muppets, The ABC Network and ESPN to name a few. While such a property claim could be very helpful against the likes of other growing competitors to Netflix such as Amazon Prime, there is also the potential of a spike in membership fee that could be a sad pill to swallow for consumers in the world of expensive commercialism.
Again though, rumor is exactly that: rumor. Will we hear more of this soon enough? With the strength of the talk going on, chances are some sort of announcement on this matter will come.
Source: Tech Crunch