Well, this sounds… fraught: “Disney is likely preparing to remove more content from Disney+ as part of the company’s cost-cutting measures. Last month, Disney removed a handful of shows from Disney+ and Hulu, including Willow, The Mysterious Benedict Society, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, and a lot more. Now, in a new SEC filing from May 26, The Walt Disney Company said it is continuing to review content because of its new “strategic change” and “as a result is removing certain content from its platforms.””
Via @Strangeland_Elf. I do not expect anyone reading this to feel bad about what’s happening; goodness knows that Disney has earned its bad days. This is indicative of a larger situation, though. What’s happening here is that streaming services are facing the prospect of going from a flat-rate residual model to a popularity-based one. If that happens – and it probably will; the concept of paying actors the same way on streaming residuals as for broadcast ones will appeal to Americans’ basic sense of fairness – a lot of popular shows will suddenly be less profitable. Time to trim the catalog on the stuff that isn’t popular! Especially since the eventual negotiated settlement will be backdated. The best time to get rid of these programs was the last day of the last fiscal quarter; the second-best time is right now.
Bottom line: Disney won’t be the only one to gut its catalog. I make no value judgements on this. I merely foretell.
Writer’s strike is also forcing most TV studios to raid the catalog for air content. Disney is likely throwing half that stuff on ABC this fall.