Disney Buys Comcast’s Hulu Stake, Takes Full Control Of Streaming Service

Disney is now in full control of Hulu!

After months of speculation, Comcast has finally agreed to sell its ownership in Hulu to Disney for a cool $5.8 billion. The deal won’t become official for another five years, but as per the agreement, Disney will assume full operational control of Hulu, effective immediately.

Disney CEO Bob Iger had this to say following the news of the deal:

“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,”

According to the deal, Comcast’s NBCUniversal will continue to license their content to Hulu until the end of 2024, but with NBCU planning to launch a free streaming service next year, Comcast made sure the deal allowed them to pull back programming previously licensed to Hulu as early as next year. By 2022, Comcast is expected to cancel a majority of its content-licensing agreements with Disney/Hulu.

Last month, WarnerMedia, now owned by AT&T, agreed to sell its 9.5% stake back to Hulu. “We thank AT&T for their support and investment over the past two years and look forward to collaboration in the future,” Hulu CEO Randy Freer said in a statement. “WarnerMedia will remain a valued partner to Hulu for years to come as we offer customers the best of TV, live and on demand, all in one place.”

What are your thoughts on the Mouse House taking full control of Hulu? Do you think the deal will affect competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Variety