‘Star Wars’ films won’t be on Disney streaming service at launch

Disney/Lucasfilm

• Not all Disney content will be available on its
  upcoming streaming service when it launches late next
  year.
• CEO Bob Iger said in an earnings call on Tuesday that
  some films are affected by licensing arrangements. That
  includes “Star Wars” films released before 2019.
• Disney will let a deal with Netflix expire at the end
  of the year, but according to Bloomberg, it’s still facing
  pushback from Turner Broadcasting, which owns the TV rights to
  old “Star Wars” films until 2024.
• However, Disney is developing a number of original
  shows and films for the service, including a live-action “Star
  Wars” series.

Disney is preparing to enter the streaming wars, but it’s already
facing complications. When Disney launches its Netflix competitor
late next year, it’s likely not everything in the Disney catalog
will be available right away — notably “Star Wars” films
released before 2019.

In a Disney earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Bob Iger said that “a
number of products” made before 2019 are “encumbered by licensing
arrangements,” and he used “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as an
example.

“We’re obviously going to make sure that when we bring this
product forward, we market it,” Iger said. “People are going to
know that if they’re looking for, I don’t know, ‘The Force
Awakens,’ that it’s not going to be on.”

Films like “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story,” and the animated show “Star Wars: The Clones
Wars,” are currently available to stream on Netflix, but
according to The New York Times, Disney
will allow its licensing deal with Netflix to expire at the end
of this year.

But Disney is facing pushback from another media
giant.

Bloomberg, citing anonymous
sources, recently reported that Disney was trying to buy
back the TV rights to old “Star Wars” films but talks have gone
nowhere. Disney sold the rights to Turner Broadcasting in 2016,
which can currently air the films on its networks TNT and TBS
until 2024. A source told Bloomberg that Turner would want
“financial considerations and programming to replace the lost
films,” and negotiations have stalled since.

During the Tuesday call, Iger took a defensive tone when
discussing the issue, and highlighted Disney’s 2019 slate of
films coming to theaters that would go on the service, including
Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers 4,” live-action remakes
of “Dumbo” and “The Lion King,” and “Star Wars: Episode
IX.”

“So when we launch at the end of 2019, now they still have
to be windowed in based on how we bring product to market, but
the windowing will not be affected by existing licensing deals,”
Iger said, before reading the list of films again.

“That’s a pretty strong slate,” he added.

Disney is also developing a number of original shows and
films for the service, including a live-action “Star Wars”
series from “Iron Man” and “The Jungle Book” director Jon
Favreau. It will be up to consumers to decide whether that
offsets the lack of old “Star Wars” films and other
content.