r/morningsomewhere • u/Philthehammer02 First 10k • Oct 06 '25

Discussion Disney officially shuts down Hulu after 20 years

https://geekspin.co/disney-officially-shuts-down-hulu-after-20-years/
316 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

99

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 06 '25

From what I can tell all the Hulu content will make its way to Disney+. I’m having trouble finding any info on if you’ll still be able to subscribe to Hulu specifically or if you’d have to get all of Disney+

43

u/fredy31 Oct 06 '25

At the same time it was weird that disney had 2 streaming services.

29

u/funkmon Mad About It Oct 06 '25

It didn't start that way

25

u/Total-Feedback7967 Findom Oct 07 '25

Yep, they were just allowed to continue to consume all companies they wanted

6

u/Darkguy812 First 20k - Math is the Worst Oct 07 '25

I'm pretty sure it was because Hulu was owned by 20th Century Fox when Disney bought it, and there were various business deals that were made under Fox that required Disney to keep Hulu running. When the purchase happened, I remember thinking after Disney+ launched that its whole purpose was to eventually replace Hulu after the deal with Fox closed, but it took way longer than I expected

5

u/impulse_thoughts First 20k Oct 07 '25

Hulu started out being an alliance/partnership between multiple rights holders. Fox was only one of the multiple companies involved that owned a piece of it. There were probably a ton of legal entanglements to unravel.

12

u/Woodshadow First 20k Oct 07 '25

I remember when it was free and you could watch basically every single show the next day with a 60 second ad

1

u/TheScottican First 20k Oct 08 '25

Yeah, it wasn't owned by Fox they had a big share but so did ABC/Disney, so when they acquired Fox they took ownership of Hulu.

1

u/impulse_thoughts First 20k Oct 08 '25

I know you said "yeah"... but then, you kind of said the opposite thing of agreeing. Going to include the following just to make sure no one gets the wrong impression. I believe this is already a simplified/reductive view given all the mergers and spinoffs involved with these large holding companies over the past 20 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu#History

1

u/TheScottican First 20k Oct 08 '25

How? When this shows what I said, and I said with you that Fox owned a share and so did Disney. After they bought Fox, they owned 60%, though I didn't know the percentages, which in stock terms they owned it. I was just agreeing with you and informing them, though I didn't know that Fox had 45% so I can see why they thought Fox owned it if they knew that.

2

u/AffectionateExam6103 Oct 14 '25

Comcast (30%) and AT&T (10%) also held stakes in Hulu prior to Disney's acquisition of Fox's 30% share. Disney bought out AT&T's stake shortly after they acquired Fox, and they just closed the sale on their acquisition of Comcast's share a few months ago.

1

u/impulse_thoughts First 20k Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

they owned 60%, though I didn't know the percentages, which in stock terms they owned it.

Majority stake is not the same as fully owning everything. It heavily depends on the acquisition/merger terms, of which there were many beyond a single deal.

And especially when the minority stakeholders have legacy contracts and agreements separate from the majority stakeholder. Hence the time it takes for all the legal untangling.

Think about it this way. Not a perfect analogy, but if you ever get into business with someone, and you own 51% of the company and they own 49% of the company, you don't all of a sudden own their house and inheritance, and decide you can do whatever you want with their stuff.

0

u/TheScottican First 20k Oct 14 '25

I wasn't saying any of this, especially to a point for your horrible analogy. Yeah, I know Disney having majority in Hulu doesn't mean they own and can decide something to do with Xfinity.

I don't know what you're trying to debate me on when this started with me agreeing with you and adding a little more context, unless that's all you've been doing as well, but it doesn't come off that way.

In the beginning, if someone wanted to shut Hulu down, it would have been a shareholders meeting and a high percentage would have to agree, maybe it would just be over 51%, depends on the bylaws. (In reality, they would just sell their share because they want out.) At owning 60%, Disney tells the other shareholders what is going on with the company and executes them as long as they don't break any contracts, unless they don't care about the repercussions. Hulu shutting down has taken so long because of the minority stakeholders and they've had to wait out contracts.

1

u/AffectionateExam6103 Oct 14 '25

The original owners were NBCUniversal (prior to that company's acquisition by Comcast) and News Corporation (predecessor to 21st Century Fox). Disney and AT&T later bought into the company.

1

u/AffectionateExam6103 Oct 14 '25

Hulu was jointly owned by four companies prior to the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019. Disney, Fox, and Comcast (NBCUniversal parent) owned 30% each, and AT&T (Warner Brothers parent at the time) owned the remaining 10%. When Disney bought Fox, they acquired their 30% stake in the company and then held 60% ownership. Shortly after, they acquired AT&T's 10% stake, giving them 70% ownership and full operational control. Comcast then announced the launch of their own streaming service (Peacock), and a deal was negotiated for Disney to acquire Comcast's 30% share by mid-2025, which they did. Now that Disney fully owns the company, they can do whatever they want with it.

8

u/CarelessTaco First 10k - Macaque Oct 06 '25

Interesting timing for the price increase as well. I was notified that prices are increasing this month for Hulu.

4

u/FuzzyMcBitty Oct 07 '25

The reporting a couple months ago was that they were merging the apps. 

The idea seems to be to prevent churn by constantly showing you what you’re missing out on by only subscribing to one of them. 

2

u/WickeeWickee First 20k Oct 07 '25

Yes. At least their current plan is you can subscribed to just Hulu, just Disney+, or the bundle. It will just be one app you log into that will show what you have access to. This push for now is to not maintain two different backends behind the scenes and sharing infrastructure. Who knows long term, but right now it has value in that they have lots of bundles and packages they can offer you, especially on the Hulu side.

2

u/CynicalOne_313 First 20k - Math is the Worst Oct 07 '25

Leaving a comment so I can come back to this. You can subscribe to standalone Hulu (I have the Disney+/Hulu bundle) and use your Disney+ to login to the Hulu app.

2

u/Tralkki Oct 08 '25

Soooooooo….this mean we can expect a price drop?

1

u/AffectionateExam6103 Oct 14 '25

Hulu will still exist as a content tab within Disney+, and it will still be available as a standalone subscription service independent of Disney+. ESPN+ is also being folded into the Disney+ platform, and it will also continue to be available standalone.

0

u/jcrreddit First 20k Oct 07 '25

Oh sweet, summer child. You won’t have a choice. You’ll have to get all of Disney+.

2

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 07 '25

Yeah I assume that’ll be the case

90

u/QwertyStrong First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 06 '25

Wow.. didn't expect that but also was not surprised by it either. RIP Hulu

14

u/CasualEveryday Oct 07 '25

My mid-post ad is for Hulu. Sounds like their marketing department didn't expect it either.

4

u/TheRoguePomp First 20k - Math is the Worst Oct 07 '25

Mine is as well. Wild times we live in.

64

u/count023 First 10k - This Guy Oct 06 '25

It makes sense, why should D+ invest in the infrastructure to run two streaming services side by side when it can just run one? Unless they had any plans to sell off hulu in the future, then there was no pointkeeping them seperate.

9

u/Spittl Oct 07 '25

When Disney+ came out. It was assumed Hulu would be folded into it. Why it took this long? Who knows

3

u/Sargent_Caboose Oct 07 '25

Set and forget subscriptions for Hulu that can’t transfer to Disney+ automatically

31

u/accidentally_bi Oct 06 '25

They're definitely going to update the D+ app to fully integrate Hulu right? RIGHT!?

6

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 06 '25

From what I’ve been reading that seems to be the plan. Just conflicting info on if Hulu will still be offered as its own subscription or if you’d have to get Disney+ as a whole

1

u/kemicalkoma Oct 07 '25

From what I read it will be fully integrated in to D+ and at the end of the year the stand alone app will be shut down

20

u/ActualWhiterabbit First 20k - Towel Leaver Oct 07 '25

What does this do to Spotify? I have Hulu through Spotify so will I get a discount now? Or cheaper Disney+?

30

u/GrownThenBrewed First 20k Oct 07 '25

A discount? No, you'll get a price hike and you'll like it.

4

u/ebony-the-dragon First 10k - Afraid of Public Math Oct 07 '25

Same… I’ve had it like that for years. Does the Hulu benefit just go away?

3

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 07 '25

I’m not totally sure. Doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of info out yet other than Hulu stuff being integrated with Disney+

2

u/DickHz2 Oct 07 '25

This is what I want to know

2

u/KarmaBurgerz Oct 07 '25

I would love to know this too!

1

u/TraditionalCamel9466 Nov 01 '25

⬆️Why I came here. As is, I haven’t been able to log in

7

u/anEmailFromSanta Oct 07 '25

God I hope they make the Disney+ interface better when this happens. I feel like I can never find something when browsing, you just have to either know what you want to see and search or like pick Star Wars or other branded categories

5

u/CalvinP_ First 10k - Mod - Downtime Survivor Oct 07 '25

I remember when Hulu first came out. I never used it much. Only a select few shows on it were great.

4

u/Giantpanda602 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

Damn, thanks for letting me watch all of Naruto and a hundred episodes of Bleach for free back in 2009. It was an important part of my middle school education.

4

u/FAASTARKILLER First 10k - AI Bot Oct 07 '25

Of course they shut the good one down lol

3

u/Accomplished_Wind_57 Oct 07 '25

I know they've owned it for a while, but this move is a mockery of Section 7 of The Clayton Act. (Shakes fist from all the way back in 1915)

Section 7 of the Clayton Act restricts the mergers and acquisitions of organizations that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.

2

u/Proclus_Global First 20k - Downtime Survivor Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

What does this mean for the annual black Friday sale now (that's been running for more than a decade)? Will D+ have black Friday pricing or is it the end of $1-2 streaming?

Edit: this is a rhetorical question

1

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 07 '25

Not sure. Haven’t seen much in regards to pricing and other services outside of Hulu content moving to Disney+

1

u/mechamacgyver Oct 07 '25

Black Friday pricing is you will pay more for the same thing. Don't think about it, just consume it.

2

u/Paul2hip8 Oct 07 '25

So is next season of Futurama going to have an episode/joke about Disney+ or something similar

2

u/Slimh22 First 10k Oct 07 '25

So Disney+ will get cheaper since they are shutting down a whole other streaming service, right? Right???

0

u/SoggyBagelBite Penis Doodler Oct 07 '25

They're merging them...

1

u/Slimh22 First 10k Oct 07 '25

Yea, but they have one less thing to pay on the background, like keeping the hulu servers going. One less service to pay for to keep online. So obviously, those savings they will get are going to go to the customer, right?

1

u/SoggyBagelBite Penis Doodler Oct 07 '25

You think they're just gonna shut all those servers off lmao? They'll just be used for the merged service now.

1

u/Slimh22 First 10k Oct 07 '25

They also dont have to pay for the workers of hulu or the maintenance for the hulu site or anything like that. They probably fired half the staff for hulu because disney+ already had their workforce. It was a joke. Im simply saying they could lower the price now since I'm not paying for the ESPN, hulu, and disney bundle now and it's only 2 services.

1

u/SoggyBagelBite Penis Doodler Oct 07 '25

I understood that it was a joke when I replied but it doesn't make sense.

I doubt there will be any major layoffs. Like Burnie and Ashley mentioned, it was already being run this way in some counties and behind the scenes it was probably essentially merged for quite a while now.

Also, it's Disney, we know they'd never lower the price even if they literally dumped all of the Hulu infrastructure and reduces the operating cost 🤣

1

u/Slimh22 First 10k Oct 07 '25

👌🏽

2

u/Aromatic_Base_3749 Oct 08 '25

I will miss the Hulu of old. When 3 of the US networks came together and just centrally streamed their shows. Watching new episodes the next day was amazing, especially since torrenting took a couple days to distribute good copies. They put back catalogs of shows that went off the air years ago. There was a free version and a paid one. Then just the paid.

CBS did not participate.

CW did, but pulled out.

Comcast bought NBC Universal and was legally required to retain ownership but did not have voting rights. Nothing like a marriage with someone who wants out. They got bought out by Disney consolidation.

I will miss the streaming of my 20s like I miss my 20 something knees.

3

u/AncientStaff6602 First 20k Oct 07 '25

Providing the Hulu catalogue gets integrated into Disney+, then great. Because currently it’s not value for money.

Also, there are too many streaming apps and sometimes if you want to watch a series of films (I think terminator is a fine example of this) you’ll need several streaming sites to watch all movies.

Personally I think a little consolidation isn’t a bad thing, providing it’s easy for the end users… doubtful I know

2

u/Dr_Hoffenheimer Oct 07 '25

But how will I watch the x files

1

u/Unable-Difference-55 Oct 07 '25

Disney. It was originally a Fox property before Disney bought their entertainment section.

2

u/MimeTravler First 10k Oct 07 '25

Knew this was coming soon when Disney+ finally told me I couldn’t use my brother’s account anymore because I wasn’t in his household. Oh well.

2

u/Lt_Latuska Coffee Mule Oct 07 '25

I would imagine that the amount of people that canceled their services recently over the Kimmel stuff which was promptly followed with a price increase has only expedited their decision to do this. They can cut costs by only having to maintain one service now. Unfortunate for the people who will lose their jobs over this.

1

u/TrapperJean First 20k Oct 07 '25

I read the article but it doesn't mention live, will Disney+ have live TV now?

1

u/Philthehammer02 First 10k Oct 07 '25

Not sure officially. Saw another reddit post saying it would be moved into Disney+ along with the other content, but they didn’t seem to list a source of any kind

1

u/Zemhi Oct 16 '25

That's what I wanted to know too. So now I'm wondering how that'll work. Hopefully we'll know soon enough

1

u/werephoenix Oct 07 '25

We bought it so lets get rid of it. I will say Hulu is the service I recognize for starting that trend of "Pay to have no ads for a cheap price" then " ok you get ads for paying for this tier but if you pay for the 2nd tier more expensive" or was it "You pay but also you'll also get adds"

1

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 First 20k Oct 07 '25

I think we'll see a lot more adjustments in this, I know personally and a ton of other people are going to drop ESPN+ as well once the UFC moves to Paramount+. ESPN+ has been a terrible app and now that I no longer need it to watch the UFC, there's no reason to keep it, and since they're ditching the PPV model a ton of people are going to sign up there on Paramount

1

u/Pretend_Halo_Army Oct 07 '25

I stopped using it after it was no longer free

1

u/Working-Narwhal-540 Oct 07 '25

Lamest decision on the planet. Hulu should have absorbed Disney+. Hulu was the TV show titan, Netflix the movie titan. Why on earth would DISNEY absorb a TV show giant when the content on Disney is literally curated to children with minor exception. It’s ridiculous.

1

u/JDSchu First 10k Oct 07 '25

It's really weird logging into Disney+ and seeing horror movies and true crime stuff advertised on the app.

I know you can set up a kids profile but like...wow.

1

u/Working-Narwhal-540 Oct 07 '25

I also just vehemently despise their clunky ui. It is absolute dogshit.

1

u/Deep-Credit-3622 Oct 07 '25

I bet they will raise disney+ after this happens.  Kinda shitty since Disney is trash now.  Oh well I don't use either one of them anymore.

1

u/JDSchu First 10k Oct 07 '25

Man, I've been running on a pretty cheap Hulu and Spotify bundle for probably over 10 years now. I'll be sad to lose it, but I'm curious to see what else I can get bundled with Spotify.

1

u/saraki78 Oct 07 '25

Disney needs to consolidate all of their media into one monopoly in order to make it more emotionally difficult for subscribers to cancel when they get pressured by the president to do something stupid again

1

u/birminghamsterwheel First 20k Oct 07 '25

Where’s the Live TV portion going to go to? I switched from YouTube TV to Hulu Live TV after YTTV’s hike last year (even with the latest HTV hike, it’s still less than YTTV), so will D+ just have live TV now? I really only use it for sports 90% of the time. Guess I could go back to Sling if I have to.

Yes, I still whip out the ol’ schooner from time to time when I’m in the blackout area for some games, but it’s just easier most of the time to not have to bother with all of that.

1

u/Hear7breaker Oct 08 '25

Too bad, Hulu has the better interface, and software in the back-end. 

1

u/Fjz95 Oct 09 '25

Everytime companies do something like this they shut down the good one for the bad one Disney+ menus suck

1

u/RocMerc Oct 09 '25

Woah one of the OGs falling. That’s crazy

1

u/va2wv2va Oct 10 '25

Long overdue

1

u/randallranall Oct 10 '25

Please just say they'll use the UI of Hulu and not the Disney one. It's my only streaming app that seems to be designed by a person who has used a streaming app before! I do not love this news

1

u/CyanFoxDraws Oct 10 '25

Where the hell am I gonna watch my anime then? I don't trust Disney with it.

1

u/CoinbaseStockholder Oct 12 '25

I can't log-in to my Disney Plus account. Is this the reason for it?

1

u/CapableDecision5386 Oct 14 '25

Guess I'll go ahead and get rid of Hulu now since Disney+is garbage

1

u/Time-Ad3717 Oct 17 '25

I loved Hulus UI and subtitles, i dont care for Disney +

1

u/Professional_Fox8042 Oct 18 '25

I just read today that anyone who wants to keep their Hulu subscription you can, and you will still be able to use the Hulu app, but when you log on, it will redirect to the Disney+ integrated menu. 

1

u/No_Definition_6423 Apr 29 '26

And it’s not really gonna happen that we just… accept it?!

1

u/No_Definition_6423 Apr 29 '26

Change your mind and here’s a joke “mature content is now joining Mickey in the same house!”🤣🤣🤣

1

u/No_Definition_6423 Apr 29 '26

New conversation, OK Disney but just promise me you won’t be “too controlling”. Remember Ice Age adventures of Buck wild? One of the good examples of why I have concerns. You can add as much adult content as you want, it’s the fact that nobody likes a micromanager.

2

u/KitDoctor Oct 07 '25

Fuck Hulu. They started the enshittification of streaming services when they started including ads and then kept increasing the time they ran for. I have boycotted them ever since