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Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company has reached a new stage in its development in streaming and will consider licensing certain titles to third parties “at times.”
In response to a question from a shareholder during the company’s annual meeting, which took place around this year, Iger acknowledged that there was a period in late 2010 when the company regained broadcast rights.
“In order to achieve the goal of entering the broadcasting business with great success, we felt we had to take back control of the content we had licensed to third parties,” he said. “At that point, most of it was going to Netflix and we really had a good relationship with them over the time when we licensed content to them. But we did license content that was a lot of value, content that we felt we really needed.”
Iger has made similar comments since returning to the company, including last month at a Wall Street conference hosted by Morgan Stanley. Showcasing the streaming race, Iger noted that having exclusivity for several supporting columns drove early demand for Disney+, which reached 100 million subscribers just 16 months after its launch in November 2019. “We’re proud of our track record,” Iger said. , although we are aware that we have challenges ahead, namely to reach profitability. “We are not looking to license our core Marvel, Disney, Pixar, or Star Wars product to third parties. We will occasionally consider licensing another product to third parties.”
The shareholder meeting was Iger’s first since returning to the executive wing as CEO last November. He kicked it off with a run through the company’s entertainment plans, and also featured a clip of Dwayne Johnson, who announced a live version of the Moana. Iger also hit back at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was clashing with the company over control of land around Disney World in the Orlando area.
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