It was announced today by Disney during its Q2 earnings call that it will be making some changes throughout the rest of 2023.
The first change the company announced is that the price of the monthly price for ad-free streaming will be raised. However, the new price has not been stated at this time.
Another major change that will be coming is content from Hulu coming to Disney+. Disney CEO Bob Iger said there is a plan to make Disney+ a one-stop app for all of that content.
“While we continue to offer Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our DTC 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,” he said.
Additionally, it has not been said whether or not Disney+ will get a price increase once it merges all content from Hulu on it. In the past, Disney+ has added select TV shows from Hulu such as “The Orville” and “Love, Victor,” which are both Hulu Originals.
Consumers do have the option to bundle Disney+ and Hulu together, along with ESPN+.
This all comes at a time when other streaming media competitors are starting to merge as one. We have seen this Warner Bros. Discovery and the launch of MAX (HBO Max plus Discovery+) coming later this month, and Showtime with Paramount+.
The only issue that could come into place if Disney does decide to merge Hulu content to Disney+ will be the 33% ownership Comcast has.
The Verge reported that the company is considering purchasing that ownership from Comcast and that a merged Disney+ and Hulu app is said to happen “by the end of the calendar year.”
Once again, Iger elaborated on this info.
“How that ultimately unfolds is to some extent in the hands of Comcast and in the hands of, basically, a conversation or a negotiation that I’ve had with them,” he said. “There seems to be real value in having general entertainment combined with Disney Plus, and ultimately, Hulu is that solution.”
Both Disney+ and Hulu are available to stream on the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac. The Disney+ and Hulu apps do sync with the Apple TV app and both have support for SharePlay too.
