Disney+ in huge shake-up as streamer confirms major content cull
DISNEY+ has revealed a huge shake-up as it confirmed plans to proceed with a major content cull.
The streaming giant, behind the likes of hit shows such as Grey's Anatomy and American Crime Story, is cutting costs.
Disney+ has said it is in the process of "reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation".
It stopped short of revealing what content will fall victim to the cutbacks and whether any shows will be axed as a result.
However, it did confirm that going forward it intends to produce "lower volumes of content in alignment with this strategic shift".
Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said it expects to write off a whopping $1.5 billion by the latter end of the year.
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Disney+ officially launched in 2019 and saw its content from The Walt Disney Company and Entertainment units come together.
Speaking more about the plans to cull content, its CEO Bob Iger said: "And we're getting much more surgical about what it is we make.
"So as we look to reduce content spin, we're looking to reduce it in a way that should not have any impact at all on SOPs. We believe that there's an opportunity for us to focus more on real sub drivers."
The news comes as a number of shows on the platform have been axed for good.
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It previously announced it had decided to cull its newest adventure show National Treasure: Edge of History.
It was an adaption from the hugely successful film trilogy which starred Nicolas Cage.
The 10-part series was released last December and ranked in the top 10 most-streamed programmes in the US for that week.
According to reports, fantasy series Willow has also been given the chop by the streamer and will not return for a second series.
US industry bible claims the show was scrapped because it did not have "the zeitgeist cultural impact" of the original film it was based on.
The series starred Warwick Davis, who reprised his titular character from the iconic 1988 film.
The eagerly awaited series hit the streaming site last November and ran for eight episodes.
