What the Streaming Wars Mean for the Future of TV

If all goes as planned, by mid-2020 four of the most valuable companies on the S&P 500 will have introduced streaming services in less than a year. They’re spending billions of dollars to fund hundreds of new movies and TV shows to compete with established players Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in what’s become known as the Streaming Wars. After years of trying to keep customers from canceling their cable packages, big media companies are embracing the internet and facilitating the transition of customers from pay TV to their own streaming services. We may not know how they fare for a few years, but in the meantime we’ll have no shortage of TV to watch.

Walt Disney Co., the world’s largest entertainment company, and Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, kicked things off in November with Disney+ and Apple TV+. Two other services -- HBO Max from AT&T Inc., the telecommunications company that bought WarnerMedia, and Peacock from cable giant Comcast Corp. -- will debut in mid-2020. Here’s what we know about them: