Disney takes full control of Hulu as Comcast steps aside
Today, Disney takes the reins at Hulu. Disney and Comcast announced a deal saying that Disney will assume full operational control of Hulu, effective immediately. In turn, Disney and Comcast have entered a “put/call” agreement, which means that as early as January 2024, Comcast can require Disney to buy NBCUniversal’s 33-percent interest in Hulu. On the flip side, Disney can require NBCUniversal to sell its interest in Hulu by January 2024 for fair market value.
Fair market value will be assessed at the time of sale, but Disney has guaranteed Comcast a minimum sale price of $27.5 billion for the remaining stake in Hulu.
As part of the agreement, Comcast has agreed to extend Hulu’s licensing of NBCUniversal content until late 2024. That means, despite Disney’s immediate takeover, Hulu will retain NBCUniversal content for the next few years. This goes for on-demand content as well as Hulu Live.
However, the agreement also states that NBCUniversal will be able to run certain content on its own streaming service within one year’s time in exchange for a reduced licensing fee for Hulu. Reportedly, Comcast is preparing an NBC streaming service to launch sometime in 2020 at a price point below $12 per month. NBCUniversal will also be able to terminate most of its content-licensing agreements with Hulu in three years.
Disney already owned a whopping 66 percent of the streaming service, a stake that evolved over time and as Disney won battles against Comcast and Fox. Last year, Hulu was evenly divided between Disney, Fox, and Comcast, but Disney gained a controlling stake when it struck a major deal with 21st Century Fox. Comcast, through its property NBCUniversal, retained the remaining 33 percent interest in Hulu until today.
Last month, Hulu bought back a 10 percent stake from AT&T as well in a deal valued at $1.43 billion, leaving Disney with almost complete control over Hulu and its future.
Disney recently debuted its own ad-free streaming service, dubbed Disney+, which will launch in November for $6.99 per month. Included in that streaming service is Disney’s entire original movie library as well as new original content coming from the entertainment giant (including a live-action Star Wars series), the complete Simpsons archive, and a handful Marvel movies.
It’s currently unclear what the future relationship between Hulu and Disney+ will be. Reportedly, Disney executives have talked about sequestering more mature content on Hulu, while Disney+ would remain a family-friendly service. There have also been talks of selling the two services along with ESPN+, another standalone streaming service already owned by Disney, in a trifecta bundle at a discounted price.
