Netflix's Content Chief Says 'Nothing Has Changed' With Disney+ Launch
November 14 2019 - 2:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
Netflix Inc. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said "nothing
has changed" with the launch of Walt Disney Co.'s new streaming
service, expressing optimism that his company is prepared to
weather competition from rivals because of its investments in
original programming.
"We don't really get that distracted by competition," Mr.
Sarandos said Thursday at an event at New York's Paley Center for
Media.
Disney+ this week launched its $6.99-a-month Disney+ service,
which features an array of programming from its Star Wars and
Marvel brands and a deep catalog of animated films and original
programs, among other fare. Apple Inc. earlier this month launched
its own services and next year AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. will
join the fray in streamed entertainment.
Mr. Sarandos said with most of the major Hollywood players
emerging as competitors, it's unlikely they will want to keep
offering programming to Netflix. He said he envisions a world where
Netflix will have to rely solely on its own content, which is why
the company has invested so aggressively in originals.
"We figured at some point everybody would get into this," Mr.
Sarandos said. "I was frankly surprised it took Disney and other
people this long to go on this path."
Disney said Disney+ had 10 million sign-ups on its first day of
service. The company did not say how many of those people received
free service through a partnership with mobile provider Verizon
Communications Inc., and Wall Street will be waiting to see how
many users stick with Disney+ when free trials end.
Disney, which had been one of Netflix's biggest suppliers of
both original and library content, has indicated it will no longer
sell shows to Netflix, instead focusing on Disney+ and Hulu, which
it also controls.
Mr. Sarandos also clarified recent comments that Netflix Chief
Executive Reed Hastings had made about the company's decision to
take down an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj's show "Patriot Act"
from the streamer's Saudi Arabia service after that government's
complaint.
Asked about that decision at a New York Times conference last
week, Mr. Hastings said the company is "not in the 'truth to power'
business, we're in the entertainment business."
"All entertainment is truth to power," Mr. Sarandos said
Thursday, adding that Mr. Hastings was trying to say Netflix isn't
"in the breaking news business."
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2019 14:35 ET (19:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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