Yesterday during Disney’s 1st quarter 2023 earnings call, we learned that Disney was open to making ESPN a standalone streaming service. We also learned that Disney is open to selling Hulu.
During the call, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked if Disney would be open to selling off Hulu. In response, he said everything was on the table.
“Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of (Hulu),” Disney CEO Bob Iger said. “But I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, particularly in the competitive landscape that we are operating in, and we are going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
Disney’ is currently facing ‘s current contract with Comcast says that Disney will have to buy out Comcast’s 33% share of Hulu soon. This will make Disney the sole owner of Hulu.
Disney already has multiple streaming services with Disney+ and ESPN+. This raises the question of how Hulu fits into the mix. There has been talk that Disney would make Hulu a pure live TV streaming service, moving on-demand to Disney+. There has also been talk that Disney would pull most its content off of Hulu and sell off Hulu.
Disney earlier this year said that making streaming profitable was a priority in 2023. Currently, Disney+ is not expected to be profitable until 2024 or 2025. Selling Hulu could help cut costs and move more subscribers over to Dinsey+.
There is a good case to keep Hulu, though. Hulu is one of the largest live TV streaming services out there. Keeping Hulu even just as a live TV streaming service could be profitable for Disney.
Comcast has made it clear that they would be open to buying Hulu if a deal could be worked out. It is also rumored that other investment groups would be open to the idea as well.
For now, Disney seems to be looking at all options to decide what to do with Hulu and its other streaming services. At this time, nothing is off of the table.