Disney have recently made the questionable choice to cease DVD and Blu ray releases in Australia. 
aside from the impact this has on collectors of physical media, there’s other points consider here- the impact on local stores, the financial cost on the artists who receive residual payments from DVD or Blu sales, and more as we’ll outline below. 

Removing the choice to purchase physical media of any Disney-owned property in Australia negatively impacts Australian viewers, the filmmakers who made these films, and the film and tv industry as a whole. Many titles Disney owns- including the 20th Century Fox library- are not available on streaming. Forcing people to be reliant on Disney+ as their only source to watch these films is unfair, greedy and isn’t fair to fans, collectors or artists. This company was once synonymous with family entertainment and creating great memories, but now seems to be focused on greed. 

There is still a strong demand for physical media in Australia and physical media of Disney-owned properties should not be pulled from distribution in Australia.

There are numerous popular Disney+ original shows and movies which viewers would willingly pay to own physical copies of, that are currently only available in digital format. Disney is walking away from easy money by abandoning all forms of physical media release in Australia, New Zealand and most of Asia.

It makes very little sense to produce and sell Disney merchandise for movies and shows that people can’t own (for example, the new Indiana Jones). 

Australia has poor internet speeds compared with other countries. Some people in remote areas have difficulty accessing a decent internet connection at all. Streaming in Australia can be prone to heavy compression, generally poor quality in picture and sound, and buffering delays. Physical media is not reliant on internet access.

Physical media allows people to watch movies and tv in their original formats without censorship or editing. This can include seeing movies and shows with their original music, or watching episodes which have been pulled from streaming entirely (for example, the Michael Jackson episode of The Simpsons). The choice to watch or not watch should be entirely in the hands of the viewer.

Streaming services have begun to remove movies and tv shows from their catalogues entirely - including original shows which never had a DVD or Blu-ray release. Without physical media, this means that nobody can ever watch these shows again. With no physical copies available to buy or rent, the viewer is 100% reliant on availability as decided by streaming services. 

Signing  this petition is a great way to show Disney that physical media still matters to Australia. Please share this to friends and feel free to use the #savethedisc hashtag