Disney finished its first round of removing content from Disney+ in an effort to save money. More than 30 different series/movies were pulled from Disney+ and Hulu over the past couple weeks in a move that will allow Disney to take a $1.5 billion write-down. Looking ahead, Disney is planning to remove even more content in the quarter ahead.
Friday’s SEC filing said Disney is “continuing its review” and is expecting to remove additional produced content from its streaming services during the third quarter, with those removals expected to incur an additional $400 million write-down.
It’s unclear what content Disney may pull next. So far, they’ve removed some original series such as The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Willow, and more.
Disney, and other streaming companies, have been gradually removing content in order to save money. Pulling the content from their service allows them to save on residual fees and licensing, and may allow for a tax write-off.
Disney has been cutting costs in a variety of areas over the past few months. In addition to the Disney+ and Hulu content cuts, they’ve conducted 7,000 layoffs, they’re closing the stumbling Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, and they’ve more or less paused immediate expansion plans at the theme parks.
