In a relatively unsurprising move, NBCUniversal is bringing home the streaming rights for its current-season TV series' on Hulu, further consolidating its shows for its own streaming platform, Peacock. According to Variety, the programmer, owned by Comcast, "officially terminated its next-day TV streaming deal with Hulu, which is majority owned by Disney." Variety states further that a representative for NBCU "confirmed that the Hulu agreement has been terminated," but that a "Disney spokesperson did not immediately provide comment".
The move comes just after Disney announced a new stratification for its premium streaming offer, Disney Plus, debuting a lower-priced tier supported by ads — with a plan to begin in the United States in late 2022. This is in addition to a similar plan for Hulu, also supported by ads. Variety notes that "NBCU's Peacock offers free, ad-supported and no-ad versions," suggesting that cheaper, more consumer accessible versions of streaming services are increasingly viewed to be a commercially viable pursuit.
Previously, new episodes of NBC's popular shows — which include the likes of Saturday Night Live and singing contest The Voice — were available on Hulu the day after broadcast, along with the rest of NBCU's broadcast and cable lineup. But, starting from the 2022-23 season, that will no longer be the case. Variety further notes, however, that certain NBCU titles will remain on Hulu for a "few more years": they mark out Law & Order: SVU, This Is Us, The Mindy Project, 30 Rock, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, and Will & Grace as a handful of the continuing offers.
A severance of the existing deal between NBCU and Hulu officially began some three years ago, under the agreement between Comcast and Disney, that gave the latter "operational control" of the streamer. In accordance with the terms of the deal, NBCU was given the right to cancel most of its content licensing agreements with Hulu by 2022, as has come to pass. Comcast still has a 33% stake in the platform, but Variety notes that it is expected to sell to Disney by as early as January 2024. Comcast is guaranteed to reap a massive $5.8 billion from the deal as it stands, but there is the potential for billions more.
Variety notes that "Disney insiders have tried to put a positive spin on NBCU's exit from Hulu ... [saying that] it will free up content dollars to let Hulu invest more aggressively in originals". However, with Disney's recent move to make Disney Plus more adult-friendly, including a consolidation of its Marvel TV shows to the platform — severing its erstwhile deal with Netflix — one might wonder what is to come of Hulu's programming.