BAMTech Media

Was the leading independent OTT platform provider before full Disney absorption; its technology underpins the world's second-largest streaming ecosystem

BAMTech Media was a streaming technology company spun off from MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in 2015, inheriting over a decade of battle-tested video streaming infrastructure originally built to power MLB.TV. The company rapidly established itself as one of the most capable OTT platform providers in the world, licensing its technology to major media brands including HBO (HBO Now), the NHL, WWE, and others before Disney recognized its strategic value. Disney acquired a minority stake for $1 billion in August 2016, then exercised its option to take a majority stake for $1.58 billion in September 2017, and finally achieved full ownership in November 2022 by purchasing MLB's remaining 15% stake for $900 million. BAMTech's technology stack became the foundational infrastructure upon which Disney built its entire direct-to-consumer streaming empire. When Disney+ launched in November 2019 and ESPN+ launched in 2018, both services ran on BAMTech's platform. The company was quietly rebranded internally to Disney Streaming Services in October 2018, reflecting its full integration into Disney's DTC strategy, and the public-facing rebrand to Disney Streaming was completed on August 3, 2021. In the AdTech and streaming ecosystem, BAMTech's legacy is its role in proving that a purpose-built, scalable OTT infrastructure could support hundreds of millions of concurrent streams globally. Its engineering expertise in adaptive bitrate streaming, subscriber management, digital rights management, and monetization technology directly enabled Disney to compete with Netflix. The entity no longer exists under the BAMTech name, having been fully absorbed into Disney Streaming, which continues to operate as Disney's internal streaming technology and services division.