Disney In Talks to Buy 30% Stake of Hulu From Comcast

Hulu is a big part of Disney's multimedia strategy going forward, even after the explosive rollout of their upcoming Disney+ streaming service. Now, it seems the House of Mouse is ready to make Hulu their own: according to a new report from CNBC, Disney is in talks with Comcast to buy out the cable giant's remaining stake in Hulu. The network, which was previously a jointly-owned effort by ABC parent company Disney, NBC parent company Comcast, Time Warner owner AT&T, and 20th Century Fox, now has the majority of its assets in Disney hands following the company's recent acquisition of most of Fox's assets.

CNBC, who reported the talks, is owned by Comcast. According to the report, Comcast is weighing a number of variables, including the valuation of the company, the potential downside of losing control over Hulu's delivery system, and more. It is not yet a done deal and it may not happen, but the fact that Disney, this soon after the Fox acquisition, is already looking to consolidate control over Hulu likely means that, long-term, the partnership is not going to hold together. Hulu recently bought AT&T's 9.5% stake in itself back in a deal that values Hulu at $15 billion. The stake will be split between Disney and Comcast, unless Disney consolidates the entire company.

According to a new study from Ampere Analysis, per Variety, the library available on Disney+ in its first year will only be about 16% of Netflix's US catalog. Disney+ will reportedly include 7,500 episodes of television and 500 movies, compared to Netflix's 47,000 TV episodes at 4,000 movies. It will also have less TV episodes than Hulu, Amazon Prime, and CBS All Access, as well as fewer movies than Amazon Prime, Hulu, Starz, and HBO Go.

Despite having a smaller number of overall titles, Disney+ is still boasting one of the more enticing lineups in all of streaming. Why? Because it's all Disney content, made up of the most beloved franchises in the industry.

This is all part of Disney's plan, to make Disney+ a home of quality content, not as concerned with quantity. The service will contain the entire libraries of Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Star Wars. Any one of those alone is enough to convince a customer to spend $6.99 per month. Add on top of that the new original series and films coming from those franchises, and it's a no-brainer for most customers, especially those with children.

The company is also looking to make Disney+ the exclusive streaming home for all of its movies and TV shows in the future. That means Netflix won't ever get access to Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Frozen II, or Avengers: Endgame. All of those properties will eventually be available to stream, but only on Disney+.

Disney+ is set to launch on November 12th.

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