Disney severs ties with Netflix to set up online offering

US entertainment giant Walt Disney plans to cut its distribution ties with streaming site Netflix, as it prepares to launch its own online offering.

Falling subscriptions and increased challenges from the likes of Netflix and Amazon, which have both started to produce original video content, has led to Disney going it alone.

Disney is set to introduce two of its own online streaming services for sports and family films, offering its content directly rather than going through a distributor.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the company’s second quarter results for 2017, which showed profits to be 9% lower than the same period last year.

Disney also announced the acquisition of BAMTech, a content streaming company founded by US Major League Baseball.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said: “The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market.”