Everyone is now running with the rumor that Hulu and Disney+ could combine. Something we here at PNP have been speculating about on both this site, and on our sister YouTube channel Clownfish TV, for months.  But now that Collider says it, hours after we again talked about it twice today, it suddenly is a “credible rumor.”

For us the leak of the a possible Disney+ 18+ announcement for the Disney Investor Day made the consolidation rumor more of a possibility.

If Disney wants to follow the Warner example with HBO Max, and put their theatrical releases on Disney+ for the Premium Pass, they would need to change the platform to have more adult content on it.

Before the pandemic necessitated the release of films to digital platforms first, Hulu would have been the assumed destination of the “adult” content. That was how the idea of Disney+ was spun to investors and fans initially.  Disney+ would be the “Family” destination.

Now, the status quo has changed and it would make sense and more money for Disney to just add theatrical release films like “Black Widow” to Disney+ with the Premium Pass.

Disney+ is already set up for POV at this point.

The executives shake-up that just happened made the rumor seem even more credible. 

The one issue we see with the rumor:

The problem with this theory, and we’ve pointed it out many times, is that many people are paying a lot of money for Hulu’s Live TV option, which was just raised by $10 again. (Since Disney took control of Hulu the Live TV option has risen $25, and that has been in less than two years.) Those people are paying a high rate for Hulu and if they merged it could cause a big loss in subscribers. Of course Disney+ could offer the same deal, but I wouldn’t be surprised that if Disney rolled it together the competition would pull their shows.

Even now, the Discovery “Family of Networks” make up several channels on the Hulu package, but there’s talk they could spin those channels off into yet another streaming service called Discovery+.  It seems like they are already setting up a leave from Hulu. Maybe they know something?

What I think is true:

Ultimately I do expect the Disney 18+ rumor to be confirmed. I expect an announcement for Premium Pass, theatrical release content to be announced. I also expect Disney to somehow combine the two platforms.

I’m also expecting pricing tiers or price hikes on Disney+. Especially if Hulu would get rolled into it.

Collider did mention that they reached out to Hulu and were told by a Hulu Spokesperson:

“This is hypothetical speculation and there are no such plans.”

As we’ve seen with Warner, Disney, and other companies, people aren’t always informed of the plans or they flat out deny them until they are ready to announce them. I’m not putting much stock into the comment.

I’m also sure Collider is correct when they say merging the subscribers to a larger number (subtracting overlap) it would create a much larger subscriber number that would not only look good to investors, it would make them appear to be catching up to the competition.

But we will have to wait and see.

If you have been following us, then you know we aren’t surprised by this “rumor” at all.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.

Source: Us, PNP, Clownfish TV, and Collider.