Current:Home > reviewsDisney+ is bundling with Hulu, cracking down on passwords: What you need to know -MoneyBase
Disney+ is bundling with Hulu, cracking down on passwords: What you need to know
View
Date:2025-04-14 09:43:16
The world of streaming is getting a little bit smaller. Or bigger, depending on your point of view.
Starting next month, a version of Disney+ combined with its sister streamer, Hulu, will be widely available. A test version of the beefed-up service launched in December for Disney bundle subscribers, offering Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Only Murders in the Building” and Disney+'s “The Mandalorian” and “Bluey” in one handy-dandy app.
It’s all in service of a “one-app experience,” as Disney CEO Bob Iger described it. It's the latest example in a consolidation trend among streaming services in a new landscape marked by fewer services and new shows, password-sharing crackdowns, rising prices and lots of commercials. So get ready.
It’s easy to say “Disney+ and Hulu are merging,” but what does it actually mean for subscribers of one or both platforms? We answer all your questions.
Why are Disney+ and Hulu combining?
It’s always about money, isn’t it? At the end of 2023, Disney acquired full control of Hulu (once split among Disney, Fox and Comcast), after Comcast sold its remaining stake.
“We think that by making it available as a one-app experience it will increase engagement and increase our opportunity in terms of serving digital ads and growing our advertising business,” Iger said on an earnings call last year.
The goal of streaming services is to have their customers spend lots of time on the apps, watching as much programming as possible. Disney+ is limited mostly to kids' programming, plus Marvel and "Star Wars." Hulu has a much broader, more mature swath of programming that also includes FX series like "Shogun" and "Fargo," reruns of "30 Rock" and "Frasier" and classic and recent movies. Its catalog is much deeper and more diverse than Disney+'s.
Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich believes it will help keep customers happy and tethered to one app this way. “It's kind of like a gym membership. If you don't go, you're not going to keep your gym membership,” he says. “We want to keep our customers happy by having them use the app as much and as often as possible.”
How much will the bundled app cost?
We don’t know yet, but we do know how much it costs to get both services through the Disney bundle: $19.99 a month for ad-free "Duo Premium” and $9.99 a month with commercials.
What about ESPN+?
While the sports content streamer is part of a larger Disney bundle, it is not included in the upcoming merged Disney+ app plan.
Are Disney+ and Hulu going away as separate services?
No. If you want to keep paying for one (or both) apps on their own, you still can.
When does the merged Disney+ and Hulu app launch?
An official date has not been announced, but it is expected to debut in March.
Is Disney+ cracking down on password sharing like Netflix did?
You bet it is. On a Feb. 7 earnings call, Disney's chief financial officer, Hugh Johnston, announced that a new way to pay to share accounts is coming to Disney+ later this year, and it sounds a lot like Netflix’s 2023 password-sharing crackdown.
“We want to reach as large an audience as possible with our outstanding content and we’re looking forward to rolling out this new functionality to improve the overall customer experience and grow our subscriber base,” Johnston said. By year-end, you can expect to have password-sharing limited by location and options to add new members or create new accounts offered to subscribers who are frequent sharers. So maybe take stock of who is watching Disney+ on your account.
Contributing: Gary Levin
veryGood! (44)
Related
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Minnesota approves giant solar energy project near Minneapolis
- After a lull, asylum-seekers adapt to US immigration changes and again overwhelm border agents
- Kim Kardashian is the only reason to watch awful 'American Horror Story: Delicate'
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- 1.5 million people asked to conserve water in Seattle because of statewide drought
- Over 200 people are homeless after Tucson recovery community closes during Medicaid probe
- Minnesota murder suspect still on the run 1 week after being accidentally released from Indiana jail
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- No. 1 pick Bryce Young's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year betting odds continue nosedive
Ranking
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- Prada explores lightness with translucent chiffon for summer 2024
- How Dancing with the Stars Season 32 Will Honor Late Judge Len Goodman
- Tim McGraw's Birthday Tribute to Best Friend Faith Hill Will Warm Your Heart
- Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
- Simone Biles returning to site of first world championships 10 years later
- When is the next Powerball drawing? No winners, jackpot rises over $700 million
- Trump says he always had autoworkers’ backs. Union leaders say his first-term record shows otherwise
Recommendation
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
Greek civil servants have stopped work in a 24-hour strike that is disrupting public transport
Frank James' lawyers ask for 18-year sentence in Brooklyn subway shooting
Why a 96-year-old judge was just banned from the bench for a year
Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
TLC's Chilli Is Going to Be a Grandma: Son Tron Is Expecting Baby With His Wife Jeong
'Persistent overcrowding': Fulton County Jail issues spark debate, search for answers
Fox founder Rupert Murdoch steps down from global media empire