Another issue going forward as far as mass market appeal for their products: these movie companies are moving all their inventory under their own roof. Disney is planning on pulling Marvel films off of basic cable and Netflix so that they can host them on their own pay service. That is going to dramatically affect the amount of interest generated by the casual viewer who develops an interest by catching the older films of a continuing series when they see them on TNT or whatever, and enjoys them enough to catch themselves up in order to buy an in-theater experience when it is available.
This streaming thing is not going to be all it's cracked up to be. It's great if you have reliable, marketable IP, but in terms of generating more going forward I can see it becoming a problem.
I see where you are coming from, but while Disney is planning on eventually pulling all their content from other streaming services, I haven't heard about them pulling their content from cable companies. I don't think that is the case, at least for now. At the same time, eyeballs on traditional cable are dropping exponentially by the day. Disney is clearly making a play for the future by making some sacrifices in the near-term to be a major player in the long term. This can be seen with their price point they are coming in with as well, which by the way, won't stay down there for long. Ultimately, Disney isn't playing to be a little bit visible everywhere, but rather to become a top two streaming service with monthly dues, in a future world that is likely led by 4-5 top-level streaming services. Also, nobody owns IP and content like Disney and Disney owns over half the box office anymore. With that, they are banking on people coming to them, and with the purchase of Fox, Hulu, and their ownership of ESPN, they own pretty much every quadrant now of what people want.
Mark my words, Disney will be at least #2 on the streaming pecking order in the future, and maybe even surpass Netflix to be #1. Netflix is pretty vulnerable right now with studios pulling their IP off them like hot cakes. Unlike a Disney or Warner Bros, Netflix doesn't have 100 years worth of IP and content, but rather more like 10 years at best. In fact, when all of this ends up shaking out, I'm predicting in 10 years, Netflix will drop to #3 on the list behind both Disney and Warner Bros streaming service (combined with HBO). Warner Bros just needs to also roll their DC streaming service in with their main one, which I think they eventually will. Content is king right now and those two studios own the vast vast majority of it. To me, Netflix needs to buy one of these studios with existing IP like Sony to keep up.