Less than a month after Walt Disney Co unveiled plans to pull its content from Netflix, Asian streaming platform iflix has announced it will begin showing studio’s films across South East Asia.
The Kuala Lumpur-based subscription video-on-demand service will start airing films including Guardians of the Galaxy, Monsters Inc and Frozen immediately, with plans to roll out a much bigger inventory from January next year.
Disney and iflix will also extend their existing distribution deal for ABC Studios’ shows, including Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy.
The partnership will cover all markets across South East Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei. The deal excludes Singapore, where iflix still remains unavailable.
Meanwhile, following iflix’s venture into homegrown content, the platform plans to team up with Disney production arm and subsidiary Maker Studios to produce a new iflix original series.
The news follows Disney Co’s recent announcement that it would stop licensing its movies and television shows to Netflix in favour of launching its own service.
Mumbrella Asia understands the deal between Disney and iflix has been in the pipeline for some time, and is not an immediate product of Netflix and the studios’ divorce.
Iflix chief content officer Sean Carey said: “Disney has a story for every age. Iflix is committed to providing the best in entertainment from around the world and this SVOD partnership in the region will bring Disney brands and premium titles to our members across the region.
“We are pleased to partner with iflix to bring Disney content even closer to fans in southeast Asia”, said Amit Malhotra, general manager, media networks, The Walt Disney Company South East Asia. “Through the extensive library of content available on the new Channels feature, fans of all ages will have a unique access to their favourite stories and characters anytime they want.”
Iflix currently operates in 18 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and recently announced its intention to make the service available in Sub-Saharan Africa.
