Apple's TV Box Will Probably Get Disney+, Despite Rival Platform

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co.’s new streaming service will come to Apple Inc.’s TV box, even as the iPhone maker plans to start a rival offering later this year.

The new Disney+ app will “in all likelihood be available through traditional app distributors, Apple being one of them,” Disney chief Bob Iger said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Emily Chang. While the studio behind “Star Wars” and Marvel movies said during an earlier presentation that consumers will be able to subscribe on Roku and PlayStation, it held back from naming others.

Disney didn’t make announcements about other platforms because they “haven’t made deals with all of them yet,” Iger said. He also suggested that he isn’t planning to step down from the Apple board despite the companies going head-to-head in streaming.

Iger was speaking on the Disney lot in Burbank, California, where the studio revealed plans for its streaming service as part of an investor day. The world’s largest entertainment company plans an aggressive rollout, entering a crowded market. Apple last month unveiled a new service in a star-studded event in Cupertino, California. AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. will also lean on their Hollywood studios to fire up streaming services to take on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.

Iger revealed that he was careful to recuse himself at Apple board meetings whenever the topic came up. He added that streaming “has not been discussed all that much” by the Apple directors, because it was relatively small and nascent.

“So far its been OK,” he said. “I’m in constant discussion about it.”

Some corporate governance professionals have said Iger’s Apple board seat could become a conflict of interest given the iPhone maker’s plans for a streaming service.

“I am mindful of my fiduciary responsibility to Apple shareholders as a member of the board,” Iger said.

--With assistance from Mark Gurman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net;Emily Chang in San Francisco at echang68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Robert Fenner, Dave McCombs

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