As the streaming wars heat up, FX chairman John Landgraf is very happy his network will soon hitch its wagon to Disney.
This year alone will see Apple, WarnerMedia and Disney all launch their own streaming services, with Comcast right behind them in 2020. With the upcoming launch of Disney+, the Mouse House is about to become a major player in the streaming world. For Landgraf, it’s comforting that FX is about to become part of that family as it competes with the already-established players — Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and even CBS All Access.
“[It’s a] crowded field,” Landgraf told TheWrap on Monday during the Television Critics Association press tour. “All I can tell you is that I feel really excited and much more comfortable that we’re going to be a part of an organization that just has such incredible resources. I don’t just mean financial and human resources. I mean resource in terms in relationships with talent and IP and film libraries.”
Disney is putting the finishing touches on its $71.3 billion deal to acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets, which includes FX and FXX and everything else not named Fox Broadcasting, Fox News or Fox Sports. As part of the deal, Disney also acquires Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu, which will give Disney a controlling 60 percent ownership of the streaming service.
But while “The Handmaid’s Tale” doesn’t exactly fit into Disney’s family-friendly brand, it fits like a glove alongside FX.
“I imagine [we] have to fit into the Hulu strategy somehow. How? I can’t tell you,” Landgraf continued. “I can tell you that it doesn’t fit into the Disney+ strategy. We’re going to have to figure out how much we can possibly contribute to Hulu.”
In fact, Landgraf is very happy to leave the family friendly entertainment to the professionals.
“What group of people are better at making that kind of entertainment than them?” he argued. “I have no interest in getting my a– kicked by people who know how to do something better than we do.”