The golden age of television is back. As we turn the corner towards awards season for movies and television, 2019 is shaping up to be a massive year for entertainment. The whole industry is changing to streaming, where services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon offer movies and TV shows from either licensed deals or with their own source material.

Netflix was the first company to offer the possibility of streaming, and as a result, they have been the most successful in the industry. Netflix acquires the rights to broadcast well known movies and TV shows such as “Friends”, “The Office” and “Avengers: Infinity War”. However, this past year saw a shift in the direction of streaming, as the idea of original content began to spill out as the competition heated up.

Netflix reportedly paid $100 million dollars just to bring back “Friends” for another year in 2019, and the cost of paying for licensed entertainment was one reason why the industry was forced to change its hand. Netflix began to produce original content such as “The Crown”, “Stranger Things” and “House of Cards”, and positive reviews along with a slew of awards gave the company the confidence to begin producing more original content.

However, the main reason for this shift to original content comes back to why 2019 is a massive year for the entertainment industry, which is the streaming wars. Netflix is not the only company producing media for viewers, as Hulu and Amazon quickly joined in the past few years. While both companies have seen success with “A Handmaid’s Tale”, and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” respectively, they both still face competition in the form of corporations.

Perhaps the biggest challenger to the fight is Disney, which is launching their own streaming service called Disney Plus in the fall. Disney owns not only a large catalog of their own movies and TV shows, but they also own the rights to Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, which all include massive franchises like “Toy Story”, “Star Wars”, and “Avengers” respectively.

Netflix currently has a deal in place with Disney where they will release their films and television shows on their platform, however; Disney’s new streaming service will cost Netflix a ton of titles like “Black Panther” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, which will transfer over to Disney either in the summer or fall. Companies are beginning to take control of their own products as more corporations invest in the streaming industry.

Disney is just one big brand that has promised to show its content to viewers, promising their cost will be cheaper than Netflix. The latter certainly has become more truthful as Netflix announced this past week they will raise prices in order to prepare for the “war” between companies for more content.

Besides Disney, companies like Time Warner/AT&T, NBCUniversal, Walmart (yes I know, I don’t understand either why they’re investing in this, but time will tell) and even Apple have announced plans to enter into the foray of streaming. Apple has already announced plans for a Steve Carell, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon led morning drama TV show to anyone who is an Apple user. The two media conglomerates, Time Warner/AT&T and NBCUniversal, plan on gaining back control of their media from the likes of Netflix, so don’t expect them to make another $100 million dollar investment in “Friends”, which Time Warner/AT&T owns.

As the arms race for a library full of media content begins and grows in 2019, the real people getting hurt are the consumers, who now must make a choice as to what platforms to invest their money in. While many people may own a Netflix account, the ability to watch well known movies and TV shows may dwindle as companies take a hold of their media properties. Take advantage of the services while you can, otherwise you may end up bird boxin’ around for where to invest your money next.