It was recently announced that Disney will be acquiring Hulu's remaining stake from Comcast, which means that the entertainment giant will own the streaming service entirely. It looks like the purchase will soon be finalized as Disney is already set to test its Disney Plus and Hulu bundle.
Disney Plus + Hulu
Content from both Disney Plus and Hulu will soon be in one app once the bundle is released this December. The app that will be launched next month will only be a beta version, with the official launch set for early spring 2024.
In a recent earnings call from the company, Disney CEO Bog Iger says that they "remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney Plus."
The bundle is expected to lead to "increased engagement, greater advertising opportunities, lower churn, and reduced customer acquisition costs," as reported by The Verge. The company is yet to announce how much the bundle will cost.
This is likely part of Iger's plan to make the company profitable, and it looks like it's working. Disney recently reached the 150 million milestone in subscribers, and that's after the streaming service's subscription prices increased in October.
Reports say that streaming losses have gone down to $387 million, but before they continue to reduce losses, Disney will first have to pony up around $8.61 billion to purchase the remaining stake of Hulu from Comcast, which will be finalized on December 1st.
This acquisition was already expected from the company as Comcast only held a third stake in Hulu. After all, Hulu is already part of existing bundles from Disney, along with Disney+ and ESPN+.
Comcast stated that they "look forward to the appraisal process and the determination of Hulu's fair market value which we expect will reflect the extraordinary value of the business," as reported by CNBC.
The company will continue down this path as it will soon restrict password-sharing as well. The entertainment giant still has no date set for when this will be implemented, but it is already sure to happen.
"As I reflect on our achievement this past year, I'm mindful of the fact that a lot of time and effort was spent on fixing... certain decisions made in the recent past and addressing the numerous challenges brought on by disruption and the pandemic," said the current Disney CEO.
Could Be a Better Deal Than Netflix
With the bundle, subscribers will have access to twice as much content, and it may just be worth the cost as opposed to other streaming services. Netflix, for instance, just raised their prices yet again recently, bringing the monthly subscription fee to $22.99.
The Basic plan has also gone up from $9.99 to $11.99. The only tier that will stay the same is the Standard plan, which is $15.49 a month. Netflix says that as they deliver more value to their members, they "occasionally ask them to pay a bit more."
