Although Disney officially owns the rights to Family Guy and American Dad, neither show will appear on the Disney+ streaming subscription service. Disney completed its acquisition of Fox assets earlier this year, a move that gave Disney all rights to FOX Network's television programming. After Disney announced the launch of Disney+, many assumed much of that FOX programming, if not all, would land on the new streaming subscription service.
Disney previously announced that the FOX TV series The Simpsons would join the Disney+ line-up, making it one of the most anticipated pre-existing shows to land on the service. But Disney plans to treat other FOX shows a little differently. With Disney now owning all of Hulu, some of that content will end up there. For example, Disney decided to move the FOX TV series The Orville from the network to Hulu, where it will stream exclusively. Staying true to brand, Disney has confirmed that it wants to keep Disney+ family-friendly, so it makes sense that television content with a TV-14 rating and up is not welcome on the service. This also goes for movies rated more mature than PG-13.
Perhaps this is why it shouldn't come as a surprise that Family Guy and American Dad, which are both rated TV-14, will not appear on Disney+. According to Deadline, Disney CEO Bob Iger broke the news during an interview at Glendale's Alex Theater as part of the Live Talks Los Angeles series. When an audience member asked Iger about Family Guy and American Dad potentially airing on Disney+, he answered, "No."
However, Disney+ will have plenty of other content for fans to watch. The service plans on launching with over 300 movies and 7,000 episodes. This content not only includes Star Wars and Marvel, but also Disney's vast back catalog of movies and TV shows, along with National Geographic programming. Disney+ will also feature a lot of new content, including the highly anticipated Star Wars series The Mandalorian, as well as new shows based on popular Marvel characters.
There might be a few fans disappointed with Disney's decision not to include Family Guy and American Dad in its plans for Disney+. However, those shows are still available on FOX, as well as via streaming on Hulu. And with Disney offering a bundle deal of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99 per month, viewers can get the best of both worlds with just one subscription. Disney+ launches on Nov. 12.
Source: Deadline