TVNZ loses Dr Who to Disney+ as another franchise goes global

Dr Who is teleporting from TVNZ to Disney+ under a new global deal. Photo / File

Dr Who fans will have to shell out $12.99 a month for a Disney+ subscription if they want to watch future series of the iconic British show.

TVNZ has lost the rights to the series.

The BBC has reached a deal that will see Dr Who only available on Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland.

The next series of Dr Who will debut on Disney+ late next year, with Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa as the 14th Doctor.

The BBC-Disney+ Dr Who tie-up continues a trend toward global content deals.

TVNZ is just the latest to feel the sting.

Earlier, Disney pulled almost all of its content from Sky TV, and its peers worldwide, so it could make Disney+ the exclusive source of most of its content.

Disney recently confirmed it would add commercials to Disney+ at its current pricing, with a new, more expensive ad-free tier added - although it's yet to confirm when the new plans will hit NZ.

Sky has managed to stave off direct-to-consumer pushes by the likes of HBO Max and Paramount+ with new multi-year exclusive content deals, meaning they have only made it as far as Australia, but US network AMC recently became the latest to launch a direct-to-consumer service in NZ with the $7.99 per month AMC+.

Meanwhile, Disney is due to report its September quarter numbers on November 9.

For its June quarter, Disney nosed ahead of Netflix for the first time as it added 14.4 million streaming subscribers worldwide for a total of 221 million (151 million for Disney+ and the balance for Hulu and ESPN+).

Netflix - possibly temporarily - regained the lead last week when it said it returned to subscriber growth in its September quarter as it added 2.4 million subs for a total 223.1 million.