Disney Acquires Full Control of Hulu

The Walt Disney Company's takeover of Hollywood continues. Months after completing the purchase of [...]

The Walt Disney Company's takeover of Hollywood continues. Months after completing the purchase of 21st Century Fox, which came with a major stake in Hulu, Disney has made a move to acquire the streaming service outright. As of Tuesday morning, Disney completely controls Hulu.

Disney and Comcast announced a new deal on Tuesday, giving Disney full operational control of Hulu going forward. This takes effect immediately, though Comcast still owns 33% of the streaming company.

The two companies have entered what is called a "put/call" agreement, which means that there is a five-year tentative contract in place. As early as 2024, Comcast can require Disney to purchase NBCUniversal's 33% ownership stake. Likewise, at that time, Disney could require NBCUniversal to sell that stake at fair market value.

Another big piece of this puzzle is the streaming rights to all of NBCUniversal's content. In addition to the put/call agreement, Comcast has agreed to stream all of NBCUniversal's content on Hulu until that 2024 time period.

Since the purchase of Fox earlier this year, and the big chunk of Hulu that came with it, Disney has made plenty of progress getting new Marvel content on the streaming service. After the success of Runaways, which is about to enter production on its third season, the sides reached deals to make five individual animated series, including a show based on Howard the Duck. Marvel is also producing a couple more live-action shows on Hulu, the most talked-about being a series centered around Ghost Rider.

-----

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we go all in on the IT CHAPTER TWO trailer and do a deep dive into all the movies coming out this summer! After Avengers: Endgame, is there any movie worth seeing? Find out the answer and make sure to subscribe now to never miss an episode!

28comments