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Alexander Kirch/Dreamstime
Walt
Disney
announced on Monday that it’s restructuring its media and entertainment segments to place a greater emphasis on its growing streaming business. The company is in the midst of a transformation from a television and movie theater-driven distribution model to a direct-to-consumer business that would rival
Netflix.
Disney stock (ticker: DIS) was up 5.5% in after-hours trading on Monday.
Disney is creating a new unit that will be focused on commercialization and distribution of its movies, TV shows, and sports content: the Media and Entertainment Distribution group. Meanwhile the company’s studios will continue to churn out content, without a bias toward any one form of distribution.
Essentially, rather than making TV content, movie theater content, and streaming service content, Disney’s creators will just make shows and films, with a separate team deciding how to monetize them. The new distribution group will be led by Kareem Daniel, a 14-year Disney veteran who most recently served as head of games and publishing in the company’s consumer products business.
Disney will have three distinct content-production groups. First is studios, which includes Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, and will make movies and series for theaters and streaming. Second is general entertainment, composed of ABC, Disney Channels, FX, National Geographic, and others. Its focus will be on content for Disney’s streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu and its cable networks. Last will be sports, responsible for content for broadcast on ABC and ESPN and for streaming on ESPN+.
It will be up to Daniel and the distribution group to determine which path to consumers is best for each piece of content. That could mean skipping a theatrical debut for a film and bringing it directly to Disney+. Or it could mean an advertising and affiliate fee-supported run