We’ve already received news that the Paramount Plus streaming service would begin merging with another streaming application. Now it looks like Disney Plus could be the next major streaming service to merge with another application. In this case, however, Disney Plus would merge with Hulu. Many subscribers have already suspected this change was imminent – especially given that Disney controls Hulu as well. But, according to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Disney won’t be able to buy out Comcast and thus completely take over Hulu until the start of 2024.
As noted via Deadline, Bob Chapek said as much while speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference. He did note, however, that he’d “love to” commence the buy out even sooner. But as of right now, Comcast does not seem interested. Especially as the growing value in streaming – which has put their value of the stake at $27.5 billion – makes these prices less likely to lower in the near future.
Bob Chapek specifically had this to say on the matter:
“The thing that you worry about when you’re Disney is brand friction, with some of the content that we may have in general entertainment,” he began. “I am amazed every day in this job how elastic the Disney brand is. I would tell you that we have had no blowback whatsoever in terms of including that general entertainment content on a Disney-branded streaming proposition” in territories outside of the U.S. “I’m not saying it would be received exactly like that in the U.S., but it gives us some reason to believe that we have more degrees of freedom than anybody would have ever suspected.”
Indeed, while Disney Plus currently had 152.1 million subscribers as of their most recent quarterly report, merging with Hulu would grow those numbers much higher. Hulu currently has 46.2 million subscribers as of the same quarterly report. With other streaming services like Netflix having numbers upwards of 200 million, this could easily place Disney into the same ballpark. As the marketplace for streaming services continues to grow and evolve – it looks like Disney is prepared to make whatever changes are necessary for Disney Plus and Hulu.
For example, Bob Chapek even suggested that prices could continue to increase for their streaming service. This news comes just before the next major Disney Plus price hike. By next month, the ad-free plan for the streaming service will begin to cost $10.99. Meanwhile, other users will be seeing ads if they wish to keep their $7.99 plan.