Disney Announces Plans To Roll Out Hulu, Disney+ App
By Movieguide® Contributor
Disney+ and Hulu’s upcoming merged app is set to launch next month.
“We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney+,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the launch.
A beta version of the app is expected to launch in December, with the official launch slated for spring 2024.
“While we will continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger explained.
Variety reported that Disney is expecting to shell out $8.61 billion to Comcast for its stake in Hulu; Disney already owns the other two-thirds of the streaming service.
“The acquisition of Comcast’s stake in Hulu at fair market value will further Disney’s streaming objectives,” a statement from Disney reads.
Movieguide® previously reported on Disney’s acquisition of Hulu:
Disney revealed that it plans to buy out Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu for an expected $8.61 billion to take full ownership of the streaming site.
Disney has been seriously considering buying out Comcast’s stake in Hulu since Bob Iger returned as CEO last year and made streaming the company’s top priority. Any action on this desire has been impossible before now because of an agreement that only allowed these talks to start in January 2024.
However, the two companies accelerated the timeline so they could begin talks of a buyout at the end of September. This altered an agreement made in 2019 that allowed Disney to force Comcast to sell its stake at a later date for a fair market value that set Hulu’s total value at $27.5 billion.
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