At Disney’s most recent quarterly earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company will launch a “one-app experience” later this year, combing all of Disney’s streaming services.
Let’s get into it!
Since Disney purchased 21st Century Fox and AT&T’s share in Hulu, co-owners Comcast (NBCUniversal) and Disney have been at odds over the future of Hulu. In 2024, Comcast’s remaining share in Hulu expires, and executives have been negotiating a sale for months, as either Disney or Comcast can buy out the remaining stake.
Months ago, after Iger returned to the Walt Disney Company as CEO, he continuously emphasized that the profitability of their streaming services is the company’s future, as linear continues to slowly decline. He also stated that “anything is on the table,” in regards to the sale of Hulu.
On Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger had unveiled that the company will be launching a “one-app experience” later this year, that will combine content from Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, the price of Disney+ will increase and the company will continue to offer these services as standalone options, similar to Warner Bros. Discovery’s approach. This announcement confirmed Disney’s plans to push through and purchase Comcast’s remaining stake of Hulu in early 2024.
We’ve already seen changes hinting at the merger for months:
- The Introduction of Parental Controls, Mature Content, Live Streams, Ad-Tier and Next Day Releases.
After Disney+ and Hulu merge, we can expect to see this content on the service:
- Disney, Disney Branded Television, Pixar, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, ABC, FOX (20th Television), Blue Sky Studios, Marvel, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, FX, ESPN, Freeform, ABC News Studios, Star Studios, Hotstar, STAR (International Content), other licensed content and more!
Personally, I expect that domestically, Disney+ users will be introduced to mature content from all of these networks such as they were previously available on Hulu and on Disney+ internationally via STAR.
What are your thoughts on the announcement of the merger? Let me know in the comment section down below! If you enjoyed today’s blog and would like to stay up-to-date with the latest entertainment news, please follow me on Instagram @mattsworldofentertainment and Twitter @mattsworldofet. As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again real soon!
