Netflix and Marvel Part Ways as Carriage Deal Lapses

 While it was mostly expected in the industry, it’s still rather sad to see all of the Marvel-branded TV shows currently carried by Netflix exit the platform as Disney calls them home. Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake, of Blake & Wang P.A, has the news for us. 

                                                                     Brandon Blake


Carriage License Ends

There’s no bad blood involved in the decision. Instead, as of March 1st, we will see them head over to Disney+, as the Netflix carriage license expires. This package includes titles like The Punisher, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones. All of the shows, released between 2015 and 2019, represent a period before Disney was so heavily focused on its own Marvel titles and wider cinematic universe.


Unlike much of the maneuvering we’ve seen with carriage deals over the last 12 months, this lapse was likely inevitable, and we assume there was never a re-negotiation on the table. Signed before the timeous launch of the Disney+ service, it’s only logical that they would want their drawcards- and valuable IP- back.

Contract Block Falls Away

We also see the demise of the Netflix contracts which placed a two-year hold on title characters appearing off of Netflix after cancellation. This means it’s highly likely we will see the Daredevil franchise resurrected shortly, building off of the success of his appearance in the overwhelmingly successful Spider-Man: No Way Home. 


What remains unclear is whether Disney will immediately make them available on one of their own platforms, or if they simply want full control of their IPs back. If the series do head immediately to streaming, it will be interesting to see if they go to Disney+ with other Marvel content, or head to Hulu, which likely has the better audience demographics. 


While the lapse of the license itself is hardly novel, it’s an interesting restructuring of the Marvel landscape, and further developments will be interesting indeed.


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