Disney Channel goodbye to Sky: from March 31 the channels close

With the arrival of Disney+ also in Italy, the channels now visible on satellite could be closed suddenly. Here are the hypotheses in the field

The arrival in Italy of the streaming platform Disney+ could cause a real earthquake. Are in fact turning in these hours of the rumor that Disney would not renew the contract with Sky and leave, so the satellite platform from March 31. That is less than a week after the official launch of Disney + in Italy.

The news, reported by the blog UpGo.News, if confirmed would be the confirmation of a very aggressive strategy to push the spread of Disney +, because it would force users to subscribe to the streaming platform to continue to see Disney content. And not only Disney, because also Fox channels (or rather, all of 21st Century Fox) since the end of March 2019 have been acquired by the Walt Disney Company. All this, however, should be crossed with the current schedule of Disney+ which is divided into 5 thematic "worlds", within which can enter certainly all the Disney channels currently aired on Sky, but not so easily even the Fox channels.

The Disney+ worlds

At launch in Italy, scheduled for March 24, 2020, Disney+ will be composed of 5 "worlds": Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. It is clear that all of Disney's current programming on Sky could be poured into Disney+ without any problem, but Fox's could not: in which world should we insert, for example, Fox Crime? The Disney "world" could include Fox Life, which mainly broadcasts TV series for a female audience, but where to put the episodes of "The Walking Dead" currently broadcast on Fox?

Disney+ on Sky Q

There is also the question of the agreement to bring Disney+ on Sky Q, Sky's streaming content platform, which according to The Telegraph is under discussion at least for the UK territory. It would be a similar deal to the one already made between Sky and Netflix: an app on the platform allows access to Netflix content, but only for those who have a certain Sky Q (Entertainment Plus) subscription.

Disney+ on Timvision

What seems certain by now is the agreement between Disney and Tim, to bring Disney+ also on the Timvision platform. Apparently, however, the agreement would provide for exclusivity by Timvision and this would make it impossible for Disney + to land on Sky Q in Italy. Disney, therefore, seems to have chosen to say goodbye to the airwaves in favor of streaming by selecting different partners in different countries. But, we repeat once again, are all news without official confirmation.