Hey, you got Hulu in my Disney+
Hey, you got Hulu in my Disney+
Bob Iger announced that the two streaming services will merge by the end of the year. PLUS: ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ is back with a new trailer, and updates from the WGA strike.
Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of Popculturology!
I’ve been playing catchup with a few shows the past few days.
What a great season of Star Wars: Visions. I caught up on the final three episodes of the season the other night. “Aau’s Song” was my favorite of that batch, but “Screecher’s Reach” is probably still my favorite of the entire season. They’re all great, though. Every time I start an episode of Visions, my immediate thought is “whoa, this is the most important Star Wars story ever told” — and then I start the next episode and feel the same.
I’m still working my way through the final season of Atlanta. I think I have an episode left to go, after watching “Snipe Hunt” and “The Goof Who Sat By the Door” this week. Both great episodes. My distaste for camping kicked in almost immediately while watching “Snipe Hunt.” I cannot stress to all of you how much the idea of sleeping outside in the woods terrifies me. I don’t know what’s out there. I’ve watched way too many Bigfoot shows and documentaries. It’s so dark out there. “The Goof Who Sat By the Door” was an instant classic for Atlanta. Brilliant all around.
On Thursday night, we watched Hannah Gadsby’s new special, Something Special. I’ve always enjoyed their work, and I leave you with Variety’s recent conversation with Gadsby.
It’s been a month since I relaunched Popculturology, refocusing it and adding new highlights like Feature Presentation and Bonus Features, I added the option to become a supporting subscriber. For $5 a month or $50 a year, this subscription brings you the two weekly editions of the newsletter plus Deep SNL Thoughts and The Box Office Report.
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Feature Presentation: Disney+ and Hulu sitting in a tree …
Bonus Features: Updates from the writers’ strike
The News: Loki’s squishy release date, Beetlejuice sequel official
Trailer Watch: The Righteous Gemstones, Flamin’ Hot
Playlist: The Other Two
What to Watch: Fool’s Paradise and Blackberry
Snack Break: A new Mtn Dew Kickstart flavor!
Odds and Ends: Nick Fury returns in Secret Invasion featurette
Disney+ and Hulu sitting in a tree …
Don’t delete your Hulu app just yet, but its days are numbered.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced this week that Disney+ and Hulu will merge into a single app by the end of the year.
“While we continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] 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,” Iger said during an earnings call on Wednesday (via The Hollywood Reporter).
A lot of corporate speak for “we’re gonna put these two apps together.”
This move has long been speculated. Since the inception of Disney+, there’s been questions when it comes to which Disney-owned shows and movies go where and why. The Simpsons is on Disney+ but its Sunday night partner Bob’s Burgers is on Hulu. (Disney owns both these shows despite them running on Fox.) The upcoming Flamin’ Hot movie will be available on both platforms.
When Hulu launched in 2007, it was a joint venture between a few studios and some investment firms. Disney is now the majority owner of Hulu, owning 67 percent of the streaming service since purchasing 20th Century Fox and buying AT&T out of its share. Disney+ is (duh) owned by Disney, so there’s been the question of if — when — they would merge the two into one app.
This continues a trend of consolidation of streaming apps. Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced that it will combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single app called Max. (I’m pulling for Disney to call the combined Disney+/Hulu app “Walt.”) There’s also a premium version of the Paramount+ app that includes the former Showtime app, creatively called “Paramount+ with Showtime.”
To me, the least surprising part of all of this is that Disney won’t sell Hulu. While there had been some speculation that they’d sell off the streamer, that never made sense. Hulu not only controls a ton of content, but it’s where a lot of ABC and FX shows are available to stream the day after they air. (It’s also the streaming home of Happy Endings, which should be more than enough to earn your subscriber dollars.)
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