Disney+ And Hulu Combined App Begins Rollout Next Month

The December launch will be its beta phase before it debuts fully in late March

The combined Disney+/Hulu app, making a single experience for subscribers of both services, will head into beta launch next month, Bob Iger has revealed.

“We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney+,” Iger said on a Disney earnings call for the September quarter, referring to the announcement of intent for such back in May. It’s all being done while the company awaits closing its deal to buy out NBCUniversal’s 33% stake in Hulu at a value starting at $8.61 billion, as they announced last week. The price is very likely to rise based on an assessment of Hulu’s market value by each side’s bankers. The CEO, who viewed a demo of the new dual service on Tuesday, didn’t identify any specific programming or details about how the two services would be separated for parents who prefer that.

The December beta launch is for bundle subscribers only, and apparently just the one that doesn’t have ESPN+ as well. Iger remarked that this gives parents time to set up parental controls and basically boundaries against the more adult Hulu content before the wider release in late March. Hulu on Disney+ is expected to bring in increased engagement, more ad revenue, and reductions in customer-acquisition costs and churn.

While Disney has yet to make Hulu a global brand or announce plans to, the folks on Wall Street believe this will pave the way, as even after securing operational control over Hulu, they haven’t expanded its reach to keep the buyout price as low as they could. On a final note, Iger claimed Disney’s streaming business is heading toward profitability by this time next year. We'll see how that goes.

Source(s): Variety