Disney+ will house the company’s entire library, but it isn’t clear if this availability is worldwide

As the Disney+ streaming service approaches release later this year, the company is putting an end to its frustrating ‘Vault’ system in favour of greater availability. Drumming up excitement in shareholders and prospective fans alike, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that the service is set to receive “the entire Disney motion picture library.”

Disney is famous for using moratorium practices, with its Vault rotating animated home video releases in and out of sale for limited periods of time. This level of accessibility is severely lacking in 2019, when Netflix, Amazon Prime and a range of other online platforms offer content instantly. Disney+ will place the company on par with competition, and it’ll seemingly have a sizeable library to back it up.

“The service, which I mentioned earlier is going to launch later in the year, is going to combine what we call library product, movies, and television, with a lot of original product as well, movies and television,” explained Iger during his meeting with shareholders, according to Polygon. “And at some point fairly soon after launch it will house the entire Disney motion picture library, so the movies that you speak of that traditionally have been kept in a ‘vault' and brought out basically every few years will be on the service.”

While physical home media can be found on eBay, classic Walt Disney Animation Studios feature films can be a pain to find, unavailable to rent or purchase on digital services. All 57 animated films being available on Disney+ is unprecedented, but it does also mean that the company is likely to yank the remaining content housed on Netflix, such as Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel films.

Iger didn’t mention potential regional differences in content however, so it’s worth remaining sceptical depending on your area. Netflix is a cautionary tale, particularly in its early days. Before Netflix launched in almost every region, it began licensing its early Originals to local networks so that its content remained available worldwide in some respect. These licensing deals are still on-going, meaning that Orange is the New Black and House of Cards remain unavailable on Netflix in certain territories.

Fortunately, Disney looks to have an increased focus on Europe in comparison to Netflix, having already released technical tests in the Netherlands. Still, it’s possible that pre-existing licensing deals could prove troublesome around the initial launch of Disney+ at the end of the year.

KitGuru Says: Having all of its original movies plus licensed third-party content within its online service means that Disney+ is going to be formidable in the on-demand market. Are you tempted by the promised range of television and films on the platform?

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