The Walt Disney Entertainment Company is recruiting a new team in Melbourne in a move that signals the launch of its highly anticipated 'Netflix-killer' streaming service in Australia could be imminent.
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The $US243 billion ($358 billion) entertainment behemoth has advertised for 10 roles at its Richmond office in the past week within its direct-to-consumer and international division. It comes amid intense speculation the company could unveil plans for a local launch of Disney+ within a matter of weeks.
The new roles include a public relations and marketing staff at its Richmond office, with a specific focus on planning communications for streaming services in the Australia and New Zealand market, a marketing manager for partnerships and a sales executive.
The job descriptions detail leveraging media to "raise awareness" of the new services locally and developing long-term commercial partnerships. Disney also owns TV and movie streaming service Hulu and live sports platform ESPN+.
Disney announced plans to offer a streaming service, branded Disney +, after it acquired film studio and TV assets from Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox in an $US80 billion deal last year. The service, which has been described by some industry observers as a 'Netflix-killer', is expected to launch in the US in November.
One of the biggest dates in the Disney calendar this year is the D23 expo in Anaheim later this month. Media industry sources said that any announcement of an Australian launch would be made around the time of the fan-focused event.
There has been heightened industry speculation about whether Disney would seek to partner with local media companies such as Nine Entertainment Co's streaming service Stan or News Corp and Telstra-owned pay-TV business Foxtel, for an Australian launch of Disney+.
Stan has a local content deal with Disney, including movies like The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Marvel films and the Star Wars franchise, that is expected to end in the next few months.
It is unclear whether the deal will be extended. In the meantime, the Herald and Age can confirm Stan is closing in on a new content deal with US studio Paramount, whose parent company Viacom is merging with Network Ten-owner CBS.
Sources said the output deal includes titles like Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio murder mystery film Killers of the Flower Moon and Hulu's series adaptation of John Green's novel Looking For Alaska.
Should Disney look to launch Disney+ alone, this could mean local players look to less substantial deals with the company such as partnering with Hulu or integrating the new service into their set-top boxes.
Foxtel recently partnered with Netflix and SBS to allow the pay-TV platform's customers to switch between the services easily.
Foxtel also extended a long-term deal with the BBC, including its environment documentary channel BBC Earth, and has an existing deal with Disney for National Geographic content.
Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany said at the time a tie-up between Disney and a local player was "on the cards" but didn't know what the US entertainment behemoth's plan was for Nat Geo in the long-term.
A Disney spokeswoman said the Disney+ platform "has been built to be global but at this stage we do not have a launch date for Australia or New Zealand". She did not comment about whether a deal with a local player was likely.
Disney lodged local trademarks for Disney+ in April and the service will be available from November in the US and in Asia Pacific from the first half of the 2020 financial year.
- SMH/The Age
