Disney Gains Full Control of Hulu Following Deal With Comcast

[MacRumors]

Disney has slowly been acquiring a larger stake in Hulu, most recently thanks to its acquisition of certain assets owned by 20th Century Fox. According to Variety, today Disney has "full operational control" of Hulu thanks to a new deal with Comcast.

The deal's terms state that Comcast will retain its 33 percent ownership interest in Hulu through January 2024, after which time either side can demand that the sale of Comcast's Hulu stake go through.

Comcast's NBCUniversal division will continue to license content to Hulu through late 2024. However, the deal includes a few stipulations: as soon as 2020, NBCUniversal will have the right to pull programming that was previously exclusive to Hulu, and by 2022 NBCUniversal will be able to cancel most of its content-licensing agreements with Hulu.

Like most other companies, NBCUniversal has plans to launch its own streaming service within the next few years. The Comcast/Disney deal today includes an arrangement where NBCUniversal will be able to keep its shows on Hulu on a nonexclusive basis (with a reduced licensing fee), while also streaming them on its new service.

As it stands, Hulu today is a platform with content from a wide array of content providers, which upload episodes of TV shows as early as the day after they air on cable. In the past, Disney has said that it plans to keep Hulu as it is and focus its own properties on the Disney+ streaming service. According to CEO Bob Iger, Disney's full ownership of Hulu will create an "even more compelling" service.

"We are now able to completely integrate Hulu into our direct-to-consumer business and leverage the full power of The Walt Disney Company's brands and creative engines to make the service even more compelling and a greater value for consumers," Disney chairman/CEO Bob Iger said in a statement about the pact.

For its main streaming service, Disney has announced that Disney+ will launch this November for $6.99 per month. It will include exclusive original series like "The Mandalorian," and various TV shows based on Marvel and Pixar properties.

Article Link: Disney Gains Full Control of Hulu Following Deal With Comcast

 

[ipedro]

Netflix’s solo party is over. Disney + Hulu can easily overtake it in content availability.

 

[reden]

What Disney is doing should be completely illegal. This is an entertainment monopoly.

 

[VictoryHighway]

Now I will destroy Abydos!

 

[DaveTheRave]

What Disney is doing should be completely illegal. This is an entertainment monopoly.

At least Oprah’s “workplace harassment” documentary hasn’t been snatched up by Hulu! LOL

 

[ajguckian]

Pretty curious what the idea is here for them. Are they going to use Hulu to put out some of their content and keep it from Disney+? Maybe tease the content of Disney+ to gain subscribers?

 

[PastaPrimav]

Pretty curious what the idea is here for them.

.......?

Spend gobs of cash on every profitable entity in entertainment until someone stops them.

 

[2010mini]

Now I will destroy Abydos!

I see what you did there.

 

[Mac 128]

What Disney is doing should be completely illegal. This is an entertainment monopoly.

How so?

 

[m0sher]

End of Hulu as we know it at some point. Shame.

Since Disney will have Disney+ and everyone else competing with their own apps it’s only a matter of time Hulu has no other content than Disney+. At that point the consumer has multiple payments to multiple TV apps and paying much more than ever before for the same amount of content we were getting before.

Really hurts us, the consumer when monopolies are allowed to own everything,

 

[nburwell]

So it doesn't look like much (if anything) will change with Hulu in the interim. Hopefully Disney keeps it word and lets Hulu continue to operate as it has been.

But oh the joy in NBCUniversal coming out with their own streaming app soon, too.

 

[jhfenton]

What Disney is doing should be completely illegal. This is an entertainment monopoly.

ABC/Disney is certainly big, but in what sense do they have an entertainment monopoly, or anything close to it? There are more entertainment choices now than every before.

I personally consume very little of their content: A few movies per year. Some ESPN content online. (We don't have cable.)

 

[Unity451]

All these new subscription services fighting for my money are making it easier for me to just decide to watch less TV and go outside to experience real life! #SPF50

 

[Mac 128]

End of Hulu as we know it at some point. Shame.

Since Disney will have Disney+ and everyone else competing with their own apps it’s only a matter of time Hulu has no other content than Disney+. At that point the consumer has multiple payments to multiple TV apps and paying much more than ever before for the same amount of content we were getting before.

Really hurts us, the consumer when monopolies are allowed to own everything,

I’m not sure that’s true. Hulu could become an aggregator network like Apple TV is going to be, or Amazon is attempting to be. It could end up licensing live TV like a cable provider does now, and be good competition for Apple. Disney+ could be just another channel on the network.

Disney has managed to maintain a consortium on Movies Anywhere, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t with Hulu as well. The original content gives Disney a way to do something they wouldn’t otherwise deem appropriate for Disney+, I can’t imagine Handmaids Tale on a Disney network, for instance.

 

[jonnysods]

Anyone getting concerned about the size of Disney?

They are the Galactus of the media world!

 

[Ivan0310]

Netflix’s solo party is over. Disney + Hulu can easily overtake it in content availability.

Not necessarily. As long as Netflix continues to take chances on TV shows/movies and their creators that others won't, there will be a place for them. See their handling of Stranger Things for a perfect example.

 

[vaxes]

I hope they shut it down and move everything to Disney+

-AE

 

[rp2011]

Is Steve Jobs wife still a major Disney stock holder? If so, she is sitting pretty.

 

[sinsin07]

Not necessarily. As long as Netflix continues to take chances on TV shows/movies and their creators that others won't, there will be a place for them.

Netflix may die the death of a thousand cuts:
All BBC Content Will Be Leaving Netflix
With each vendor pullout, Netflix will become less and less appealing for some.

See their handling of Stranger Things for a perfect example.

The need h**la lot more Stranger Things.

Foreign markets and places with less choice may be all that keeps them alive.

 

[ActionableMango]

Calling Disney a monopoly is laughable. There are several well-known competitors.

Personally I get my TV/movie entertainment via subscription to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Occasional titles are purchased or rented from iTunes and VUDU. I might sign up for one month of CBS All Access to watch Star Trek, and one month of HBO to watch Game of Thrones. I even rent discs occasionally. In the article it states that Comcast/NBC/Universal is going to pull their content from Hulu to create their own channel, so that's another competitor.

Big? Yes.
Monopoly? No.

 

[JarvisMeier]

My options now are paying for multiple streaming services or pay for one streaming service and a VPN so I can torrent everything else. I’ll take the VPN option.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Calling Disney a monopoly is laughable. There are several well-known competitors.

Personally I get my TV/movie entertainment via subscription to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Occasional titles are purchased or rented from iTunes and VUDU. I might sign up for one month of CBS All Access to watch Star Trek, and one month of HBO to watch Game of Thrones. I even rent discs occasionally. In the article it states that Comcast/NBC/Universal is going to pull their content from Hulu to create their own channel, so that's another competitor.

Big? Yes.
Monopoly? No.

While technically it’s not a monopoly, I see it hurting consumers. Each separate network will not be a competitor to each other because all of them will have their own content and have little to no overlap when it comes to television. Netflix and Hulu were seen as the two sites where you could go to watch any movie or TV show you wanted. Hulu unified the experience for television. Now though it’s falling apart. No one is sure how this deal was reached, but I’m willing to bet Disney was able to leverage their power to push NBC out since they will now be developing their own service.

In the end, it will hurt consumers and studios alike IMO. I don’t see people going and paying à la carte, which means they’re unlikely to subscribe for one show on one service. Those who do opt to subscribe to more services will now have to pay more for the same shows and services they were getting before. To add to it, my generation is watching less and less TV while enjoying more and more YouTube. That alone would’ve hurt networks but now that they’re basically breaking up Hulu, the place where you could pay $8/month and watch any show you wanted, I see that just being another couple nails in traditional media’s coffin.

 

[Razeus]

What Disney is doing should be completely illegal. This is an entertainment monopoly.

...lol. Ya. You can get entertainment elsewhere besides Disney.

 

[travoose]

All these new subscription services fighting for my money are making it easier for me to just decide to watch less TV and go outside to experience real life! #SPF50

I've got to agree. So many more choices than in the past, but I ultimately watch way less tv than I used to and I am more deliberate about what I am going to watch when I do watch tv.

 

[Princejb134]

End of Hulu as we know it at some point. Shame.

Since Disney will have Disney+ and everyone else competing with their own apps it’s only a matter of time Hulu has no other content than Disney+. At that point the consumer has multiple payments to multiple TV apps and paying much more than ever before for the same amount of content we were getting before.

Really hurts us, the consumer when monopolies are allowed to own everything,

it does hurt consumers but you can also live without tv. I cut cable long ago and just find alternative entertainment such as youtube.