"Can't Watch Disney Movies on Wavve" OTT Partnership Suspended Ahead of Korean Launch

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] From next month, major Walt Disney content such as Avengers and Frozen will no longer be available on Wave, an online video service (OTT) operated by SK Telecom and the three terrestrial broadcasters. This is analyzed as a move to terminate existing partnerships ahead of the launch of OTT Disney Plus in the Korean market.

According to the industry on the 3rd, Wave announced plans to discontinue services for major Disney movies including Frozen, Avengers, Star Wars, and the Toy Story series through a notice yesterday. Wave explained, "The service will be discontinued at the request of the rights holders." These contents will be available only until the 30th of this month.

The industry views this as a step to end partnerships with domestic OTTs before Disney Plus launches its service in the Korean market in the second half of this year. It is explained to be in the same context as when Disney Plus stopped providing content to Netflix upon its launch in 2019. There are also expectations that content partnerships with other domestic OTTs will be terminated one after another following Wave.

Recent large-scale content investments announced mainly by domestic OTT companies are also interpreted as preparations for the OTT market upheaval caused by the entry of Disney Plus.

Disney Plus is equipped with content appealing to all age groups from infants to the silver generation, including Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and National Geographic, and is regarded as a strong rival to Netflix, which has secured 200 million paid subscribers worldwide.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.