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Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos and CEO Reed Hastings has played down the growing threat posed by the imminent arrival of several competing streaming platforms by claiming that competition isn't anything new and that Netflix is ready to meet the new challenges.

Market watchers were alerted last month when Hastings boldly claimed that a "whole new world" was coming to the streaming scene with the launch of Apple TV+ and Disney+ in November.

Sarandos and Hastings both claimed later on that the sensitive phrase used was a "playful" one that borrowed a reference from Disney's Aladdin, one of the many titles that will no longer make an appearance on Netflix but will be an exclusive on Disney+.

Instead, both argued that competition isn't something new for Netflix, having to be in the same marketplace as the likes of Hulu, Amazon and even YouTube.

"From when we began in [2007] streaming, Hulu and YouTube and Amazon Prime Video were all in the market," Hastings said. "All four of us have been competing heavily, including with linear TV, for the last 12 years. So fundamentally, there's not a big change here."

Netflix will now not only face off against Amazon, Hulu and YouTube, but it will also now have to compete with Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max from Warner Media, and Peacock from NBC Universal. The latter two of which will be taking several of Netflix's most-binged shows, including 'Friends', 'The Office' and 'Seinfeld'.

For now, Hastings believes that Netflix's real competitor will still be broadcast TV, pointing out that cable companies over the past 30 years have not been competing with each other, but with broadcasting.

[via Media Play News]