In November, Disney announced that the company would soon begin beta testing a way for subscribers of Disney+ to also stream content from its sister streaming service Hulu in the US. Today, The Hollywood Reporter stated that mashup of streaming services began as subscribers to both services began seeing the new Hulu section added to the Disney+ apps and website.
Disney decided to label this new feature as a beta for at least the next few months. At the time, the company said this was to give "parents time to set up profiles and parental controls that work best for their families ahead of the official launch in early spring 2024.”
Hulu has been jointly owned by Disney and Comcast for the last few years, but Disney has mostly been in control of Hulu"s content during that time. The plan was for Disney to take full content and financial control of Hulu. Earlier this year, Disney announced it had started the process of buying out Comcast"s financial interest in the service, which is expected to close sometime in 2024.
The new Hulu hub of content on Disney+ joins the other hubs on the service like Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and National Geographic. It includes a lot of TV shows and movies that have more mature content compared to the more family-friendly series and movies that are a part of the main Disney+ service, which is why subscribers must also agree to new ratings and parental controls beforehand.
While Hulu content is now available on Disney+, the company still plans to keep both streaming services running as separate entities, at least for the time being. However, it"s more than possible that Disney may shut down Hulu at some point. Indeed, Paramount shut down the Showtime streaming app earlier this year and has integrated its content into the Paramount+ service.