-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Hulu Buys AT&T’s Minority Stake In Streaming Service For $1.43 Billion
- Thread starter Rvaan
- Start date
I wouldn't be surprised if NBCU dropped their investment as part of their play for their own streaming service if Disney gives them an offer.
Yes, the end result should be close to 66.5% 33.5% split overall.
They've already said it's going to be the service they use for their more mature content.
OP
OP
I imagine they'll keep it going. It still has value for it's existing target audiences, not all of which will overlap with Disney+. Content like The Handmaid's Tale sure isn't going on Disney+.
7+7=equals a 15 dollars. Almost the price of Netflix now, but you get 2 services one with day after shows
Hulu is so weird. I use it occasionally because I get it free, but I'm not sure that I'd pay for it.
It's good if you miss an episode of like Brooklyn 99 or something.
The movie selection is STARZ tier garbage usually.
It's good if you miss an episode of like Brooklyn 99 or something.
The movie selection is STARZ tier garbage usually.
Yeah my wife and I were scrolling through the movies recently and laughing at how terrible the selection is.
but 9.5%, they barely be allowed in the room let a lone make decisions
Hulu's movie selection is actually pretty good. They recently got If Beale Street Could Talk the same day it released on home video and I noticed they also added Shoplifters as well.
Because A&T is looking to pay down their debt after buying Time Warner, so a nice infusion of over a billion dollars in cash looks good.
There is only upside and Comcast gets to be a thorn in Disney's side as structural changes to Hulu requires Comcast's consent.
AT&T bought Time Warner so they have a streaming service already. HBO
I hope this doesn't mean losing WB content, there are lots of it on Hulu. Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and smaller stuff like Smallville, Full House or Home Improvement. They once said nothing on Hulu gets removed unless they decide not to the contract after it runs out of something in the show has its license expired (we lost Mork and Mindy and Happy Days due to music license). They also said on Reddit they always try to renew deals ( most recent one is Viacom).
It's never really been about movies. Hulu has always been a TV show centric service.
During the investor meeting last week where they laid out Disney+, they talk about how they don't plan on losing any of the content on Hulu in the near future. A company selling their ownership in Hulu has nothing to do with the content rights.
They haven't mentioned specifics yet on distribution, but a lot of Warner/Turner stuff is likely moving to the WarnerMedia product coming out later this year.
I don't think so, nothing gets removed on Hulu unless contract expires without a renewal. Hulu didn't lose Smallville when WB added it to DC Universe.
I'm sure Warner might want it, but if there's already deals in place, they'd have to pay to get it off, they can't just pull it unilaterally (this actually just happened in reverse, with TurnerMedia [a part of TimeWarner] basically having the streaming rights to Star Wars movies, and Disney having to negotiate with them to get those movies onto Disney+). If their deal with Hulu is non-exclusive, the best they can do is share it until the rights deal runs out.
I doubt Disney cares. They have the ol' Midas Touch these days.
If AT&T were smart they'd expand HBO Now to include a bunch of WB and other stuff they own. Keep the price at $15, and they'd have a portfolio that would be hard for a lot to resist.
As it is now, HBO has huge hits and a splatter of B+ movies. It just isn't enough for year round subscriptions. But add in their other stuff and they're on par with Netflix and Disney+.
As it is now, HBO has huge hits and a splatter of B+ movies. It just isn't enough for year round subscriptions. But add in their other stuff and they're on par with Netflix and Disney+.
Iirc Disney mentioned they expect both Hulu and Disney+ to turn profit by 2022 during the investor day. I don't think they care about Hulu bleeding money left and right right now.
I am more concerned about Hulu library in a few years thou. Comcast will probably bail out since NBCUniversal will launch their own streaming service. Warner Bros. will also launch their own this year.
I am more concerned about Hulu library in a few years thou. Comcast will probably bail out since NBCUniversal will launch their own streaming service. Warner Bros. will also launch their own this year.
Hbo Now is demanding it's price as is so there's not much point in making it more inclusive.
They'll make more money by segmenting their streaming offerings.
These companies will still license out their stuff if it'll make them more money than keeping it exclusive. They often package a lot of older things together because no one cares enough to only get one thing.
Yeah, that's what I mean. As those deals expire, they'll roll over to WM. They're in a weird position now where HBO/Turner/WB want to keep all of their distribution/content partners happy, but AT&T wants to create their own thing. It's going to be a rough transition for a few years. They've actually mentioned Friends as an example of a deal they've extended, but will want to bring in house when it's time.
Even though Disney has a controlling stake of Hulu, I've recently read news articles suggesting Comcast might not want to sell the 30% or so they own to Disney. If Comcast refuses to sell the remainder to Disney, I wonder how that will effect Disney's plans for Disney+ and Hulu, if Disney doesn't own 100% of Hulu?
Honestly I'm not a fan of how Disney wants to split content up by age ratings, and was always more interested in the potential bundle options than either service individually. So I hope a Disney/Comcast split Hulu, doesn't mess with Disney's plans for mature content too much.
Honestly I'm not a fan of how Disney wants to split content up by age ratings, and was always more interested in the potential bundle options than either service individually. So I hope a Disney/Comcast split Hulu, doesn't mess with Disney's plans for mature content too much.
That depends. Hulu deals are not exclusive anyway, they don't lose anything them being there (in fact, they earn extra money). They might renew the deal just like Friends on Netflix.
Hulu originally wanted Time Warner (as it was then) to own a minority piece of the platform as they were adding the Turner channels to the MVPD package (at great expense apparently) and they wanted them to have some 'skin in the game'. I imagine the deal WarnerMedia cut means that Hulu will continue to buy a certain amount of WB content, perhaps some library titles and some guaranteed scripted pick ups too.
This is a huge issue for Disney and it constantly gets swept under the rug. Comcast can totally frustrate Disney by doing nothing, they don't need the money from a sale of Hulu and by maintaining their stake in Hulu they make sure that Disney can't fully create a competitive SVOD platform for their own effort.
Basically put this is a classic corporate Catch 22, Disney went to all that expense (after bidding with Comcast upped the price significantly) and effort to acquire half the Fox assets and yet Comcast will directly benefit as the more Iger and Co grow Hulu as a platform the bigger price they'll have to pay to eventually (five years, ten years, maybe more?) buy out Comcast's share.
If Hulu (or other video streaming services) is serious about competing with netflix, they better wake up and start to venture outside the US...
like seriously, other than Netflix, all the so called major video streaming vendors are so US-centric, it's not even funny. Even Amazon is half-hearted in terms of venturing out US.
While they kept on dragging their feet, Netflix already had original content from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, India, etc...not to mention the already well-known ones like stranger things among others.
like seriously, other than Netflix, all the so called major video streaming vendors are so US-centric, it's not even funny. Even Amazon is half-hearted in terms of venturing out US.
While they kept on dragging their feet, Netflix already had original content from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, India, etc...not to mention the already well-known ones like stranger things among others.
Yeah, it's easy to look at the spending power of Amazon or Disney and say that "Netflix's days are numbered!", but international availability is an area where Netflix incomparably excels. Content Provider spending $50m on a new show doesn't really mean all that much in the grand scheme of things if its footprint is limited and the remaining distribution rights are geographically fractured. There will -- and, for many, perhaps has -- come a point where people just default to their service/s of choice and pirate everything else as there's a financial limit to the extent they can legally support the content they watch.
To be clear, I'm not saying Netflix shouldn't be worried about competition or its large-scale competitors are doomed to fail. Rather, I'm making the point that the latter need to adapt for the reality that digital distribution means international distribution, regardless of intent or contracts. To paraphrase Gabe Newell, piracy is largely a matter of service, not price.
Last edited:
didn't realize there's Adult Swim stuff on here. Why can I watch Tim & Eric but it says Steve Brule is locked and not available on my subscription?
We get Netflix for free through T-Mobile, so we signed up for Hulu and I like it quite a bit. I hope this sell doesn't destroy it.
Disney's aggressive launch strategy tells me they're already thinking about the rest of the world, and they have brands that actually play well worldwide to start with. While I agree that we're at a place now where Netflix competes internationally and if you want to actually usurp them you're going to have to play that game, everyone starts off US based because it's easier to do that and expand than it is to try to hit the ground running everywhere at once.
I'd bet cash money that Adult Swim will eventually migrate over to the WarnerMedia platform. It's too strong a brand to leave on Hulu.
While some might dread the idea of content creators hoarding their content for their individual streaming platforms, if you live outside the US, it's a damn god-send, because as content creators, they hold more of the cards when it comes to international streaming rights and are motivated to serve international markets.
Seems like we now know how the new Hulu ownership structure will be - assuming Comcast doesn't sell to Disney (both Roberts and Iger confirmed that talk between both companies is happening).
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448919000100/fy2019q210qdoc.htm
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448919000100/fy2019q210qdoc.htm