A Sneak Preview of 2018 Netflix Films and a Canine Secret Weapon

As 2017 grinds to a halt, two media business stories promise to have a substantial impact on streaming video. 1) The Federal Communications Commission voted on Dec. 14 to overturn Obama-era regulations on net neutrality, which, simply put, prevented internet providers from playing favorites in terms of speed and bandwidth, and 2) the impending merger of the Walt Disney Company and certain major components of 21st Century Fox. 

Earlier this year Disney announced that it would let its licensing agreements with Netflix lapse and start its own streaming service in 2019. The Fox deal adds a substantial amount of content muscle to Disney’s intentions. We probably won’t see direct ramifications for consumers for a while yet, possibly not at all in 2018. But the business of streaming, already a complicated one with a lot of players, is going to get even more interesting, and probably ugly, over the next 24 months and beyond. So we’ve got that to look forward to.