As expected, Sky has confirmed it has signed a deal to launch Disney Plus on its Sky Q platform, with NOW TV to follow “in the coming months.”
Rumours of a deal between the two companies first surfaced in January. They have not confirmed whether the deal means Disney Plus will be exclusive to Sky, or whether the Hollywood giant is in talks with other platforms such as BT and Virgin Media.
According to tech, media and telco analyst Paolo Pescatore, the deal suggests an non-exclusive deal for a UK provider is still “up for grabs.”
He tells TVBEurope: “It’s highly likely that a mobile operator will secure a deal, mirroring Disney’s strategy in the US. Therefore, EE looks to be in prime position given its track record in securing key premium content partnerships.”
Pescatore adds that while there is a lot of excitement around the launch of Disney Plus on 24th March, maintaining subscriber adoption for the new streaming service will be a challenge.
“Ultimately, the arrival of another service further fragments the market for consumers,” he explains. “There are too many video streaming services chasing too little money. It is becoming more important to be able to access all of these and future services on one TV platform. Here lies the killer feature, universal access!”
