Current:Home > StocksDisney+ is bundling with Hulu, cracking down on passwords: What you need to know -FutureWise Finance
Disney+ is bundling with Hulu, cracking down on passwords: What you need to know
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:02:58
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! (48)
Related
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Game, Set, Perfect Match: Inside Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova's Super-Private Romance
- Climate Contrarians Try to Slip Their Views into U.S. Court’s Science Tutorial
- 15 Practical Mother's Day Gifts She'll Actually Use
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- The FDA has officially declared a shortage of Adderall
- Amanda Gorman addresses book bans in 1st interview since poem was restricted in a Florida school
- Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’s Arsema Thomas Teases Her Favorite “Graphic” Scene
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Save $423 on an HP Laptop and Get 1 Year of Microsoft Office and Wireless Mouse for Free
Ranking
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- We'll Have 30 Secrets About When Harry Met Sally—And What She's Having
- IVF Has Come A Long Way, But Many Don't Have Access
- Picking a good health insurance plan can be confusing. Here's what to keep in mind
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Today’s Climate: July 10-11, 2010
- Is 'rainbow fentanyl' a threat to your kids this Halloween? Experts say no
- How Teddi Mellencamp's Cancer Journey Pushed Her to Be Vulnerable With Her Kids
Recommendation
Sarah J. Maas books explained: How to read 'ACOTAR,' 'Throne of Glass' in order.
John Hickenlooper on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands
How Fatherhood Changed Everything for George Clooney
Matty Healy Joins Phoebe Bridgers Onstage as She Opens for Taylor Swift on Eras Tour
McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
With Order to Keep Gas in Leaking Facility, Regulators Anger Porter Ranch Residents
These LSD-based drugs seem to help mice with anxiety and depression — without the trip
'Where is humanity?' ask the helpless doctors of Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region