Hulu is primarily owned by Comcast (afaik Disney only has a minority stake). After Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox last year, Comcast and Disney own the vast majority of what people consider AAA entertainment content.
Assuming Disney+ finds its footing, the stage is set for a Hulu/Disney+ duopoly. Comcast and Disney will starve Netflix, Amazon, et al for popular content, while simultaneously bleeding them on exorbitant license fees for the minimal selection they'll be willing to offer.
Instead of switching between Netflix and Amazon Video, most consumers will switch between Hulu for Comcast-owned content (Universal, NBC, others) and Disney+ for Disney-owned content (Disney, ABC, Fox, Pixar, and many more). Netflix subscriptions will lapse accordingly.
Meet the new boss -- same as the old boss. About the only way this is better for the consumer than the old-school cable setup is that municipalities won't be signing exclusive contracts with cable cos barring any competition for decades-long periods of time.
Thanks for the correction. It seems this became the case with the acquisition of Fox, since Hulu was apparently 1/3 owned by Disney, 1/3 Fox, 1/3 Comcast. With Disney outbidding Comcast for Fox, they became 2/3 owners and Comcast decided that it made sense to exit.
I think the ultimate reality still stands, just s/Hulu/TBD Streaming/g. Comcast will roll their own competitor at some point. Rent-by-mail is one thing, but when it's just moving bits around, it doesn't make sense to outsource to a licensee like Netflix anymore.
Unless Netflix can figure out how to lobby and legislate with the same supreme competence they apply to systems engineering, their long-term prospects as an independent entity are bleak. The copyright regime will be their downfall.
Comcast has multiple competitors already out in the wild.
First they have XFinity Flex. Their competitor to Roku.
Then they have Peacock, which at the moment looks like a competitor to CBS All Access. Coming soon.
Somewhere in between a channel and a platform you have Live TV broadcast. Who knows how they will brand it in the long run (they will want you to pay for their variant of "cable service / satellite".) ATM they have the Xfinity Stream Beta App on Roku.
They also have the NBC Family of streaming apps: bravo, e!, nbc, oxygen, syfy, telemundo, universo, usa. They would absolutely benefit from a single "guide" interface like ATT TV Now/ / PlutoTV.
Disney+ also has a bundle offer for Hulu, and ESPN+ as a trio. Disney just recently reassured shareholders that Hulu was their focus for all of Disney's less "family friendly/family focused" content (Miramax, much of the Fox catalogs), including that the FX/FXX content programming team is moving into building Hulu Originals in addition to cable content. Disney seems keen on differentiating Hulu enough from Disney+ that they may not cannibalize the Hulu audience that much. (Probably the thing for Hulu to worry about much more than Disney+ is the expiration of their deal for Comcast/NBC Universal content in 2025, and the ghostly specter of whatever weird plans Comcast has for "Peacock".)
From people that work at Hulu, the current strategy is for Hulu to remain the live-streaming/online DVR option for broadcast shows, and to be the sreaming platform for experimental and adultish fare like Always Sunny, with Disney+ remaining the family-friendly/mainstream/prestige streaming platform in the Disney suite.
It also mentions that Disney has asked Fox Searchlight to consider more of its project slate for Hulu Original instead of theaters, which aligns with how much Netflix and Amazon have been investing in independent films for (nearly) straight to streaming distribution.
