Disney is definitely planning to roll Disney Plus out internationally. The House of Mouse has been quietly conducting major structural changes ahead of the streaming service’s launch and the Fox acquisition, and senior executive VP and chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer has been named head of a new unit called “Disney direct-to-consumer and international.” This division is responsible for oversight of all Disney distribution, including Disney Plus, ESPN, and Disney’s shareholding in Hulu. It’s important to note that the direct-to-consumer and international distribution sit side-by-side, clearly signposting the company’s strategic agenda.
But the global release won’t be a simple matter. First Disney will need to conduct an arduous process to regain the distribution rights for its various properties. In the US, the company has already pulled out of its distribution deal with Netflix, with new Disney content set to stop going to Netflix in March; all other Disney content is then expected to be removed from the Netflix catalog by the end of the year. Right now, it looks as though Disney will only roll their streaming service out to a territory when they’ve regained that country’s distribution rights in full; there doesn’t appear to be any interest in varying the library on a country-by-country basis, the approach Netflix traditionally take.
Brexit, however, is a fly in the ointment. Nobody quite knows what’s going to happen as regards Britain’s departure from the European Union; right now, the U.K. exits the EU by default on March 29, although a Withdrawal Agreement is being voted on in the British Parliament that will establish a two-year transition period. That means British-made shows may not count towards the EU content quota by as soon as April this year (or by as late as two years’ time, depending on the outcome of the Parliamentary votes). Adding to the confusion, it’s currently unknown whether or not the British Government intends to replicate some form of the content quota in British law. Given this high degree of uncertainty, it seems reasonable to assume Disney will hold off on releasing Disney Plus in the U.K. - at least until they’re given a sense of how Brexit will go and what the British Government’s legislative priorities will be going forward.
Global distribution is clearly Disney’s long-term goal. But it’s not going to be quite so simple to achieve as has commonly been assumed, and rollout will likely take years to happen.
