To Make Way for Streaming, Disney Is Revamping Overseas TV Business

One of the big questions facing Walt Disney Co. as it prepares to launch its Disney+ streaming app is how aggressively will it retreat from selling TV shows and movies to other networks and streaming services, in favor of keeping everything on its own outlets. If recent signals from the company are any guide, Disney is going all in on its own apps.

New details learned by The Information suggests Disney’s shift will be broader than is widely understood, affecting TV services around the world, as well as its own children’s cable channels. Disney executives have told some TV networks in Europe and pay TV services in Latin America that it plans to end most of its licensing deals for Disney-made TV shows and movies in the next two or three years, according to two people familiar with the matter. Disney has previously said it would stop licensing movies to Netflix, but it hasn’t given many other specifics about how its licensing will change.