The Walt Disney DIS signed a deal with Cox Communications, per which Disney+ will now be available for customers on Cox’s Contour TV and Contour Stream Player.

Per a Variety report, the agreement will allow Contour customers to stream new Disney+ releases like Marvel studios’ Hawkeye, Black Widow and The Beatles Get Back as well as Disney classics and documentaries.

Contour customers can access Disney+ content using voice commands. Currently, the subscription to Disney+ is $7.99 per month, which will provide unlimited access to customers.

Growing Footprint of Disney+: A Key Catalyst for Disney

Disney recently revealed that it will increase its total content budget by $8 billion year over year, reaching $33 billion in 2022. The decision was based on the intention to support its direct-to-consumer services, which primarily include Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.

Disney plans to broadcast 50 titles for theatrical release and streaming in fiscal 2022. It also has plans to launch a Marvel series on Disney+ in fiscal 2022.

Expanding content is helping Disney+ to steer away from the competition. The company is also forming content carriage agreements with various companies, including Cox and Comcast CMCSA.

Recently, Comcast and Disney announced the renewal of their content carriage agreement. The agreement will continue to make Disney’s lineup of news, sports, kids, family and general entertainment programs available to customers of Comcast’s Xfinity TV.

A robust content portfolio has helped Disney+ garner 118.1 million paid subscribers since its launch on Nov 12, 2019. Disney+ has spread globally by forming strategic partnerships with local streaming and entertainment services across European countries and Asia Pacific territories.

However, Disney+ is facing stiff competition in the streaming market from the likes of Netflix NFLX, Comcast’s Peacock and Viacom’s VIAC Paramount+.

Disney’s shares have declined 16.9% year to date against Netflix’s rise of 11.8%. ViacomCBS and Comcast’s shares have declined 18.6% and 8.9%, respectively, year to date.

Netflix is still dominating the streaming market. In the third quarter, Netflix added 4.38 million paid subscribers globally compared with 2.2 million in the year-ago quarter, beating the guidance of 3.5 million paid subscriber addition. Netflix expects to end the fourth quarter with 222.06 million paid subscribers globally, indicating growth of 9% from the year-ago quarter’s reported levels.

Disney is spending a significant amount on content and marketing to attract subscribers for its Disney+ streaming service. Considering, Disney’s leveraged balance sheet this is a concern for investors. Total borrowings were $54.4 billion as of Oct 2, 2021, compared with $55.8 billion as of Jul 3, 2021.

Currently, Disney has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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