Netflix's Content Chief Says 'Nothing Has Changed' With Disney+ Launch

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 [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2019 14:35 ET (19:35 GMT)

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