When streaming first began, it was the Wild West. Netflix launched its streaming service in 2007, and as it grew it became the place where you could watch everything from Star Trek, to The West Wing, to The Office, all in one place. But as companies realized they could launch their own services instead of licensing out to Netflix, the streaming landscape became much more crowded. Now, Star Trek lives on Paramount+ with the rest of the CBS catalog, The Office is so popular on NBC’s Peacock that its initial pricing tiers were based around seasons of the series, and The West Wing is now on HBO Max alongside other Warner Bros. shows.
The most recent casualty of the streaming landscape is one of the oldest streaming services still running, and while it won’t mean any shows going missing, it raises some major questions about the viewing experience.
Per Variety, Disney announced during an earnings call that Hulu, the streaming service that has provided next-day streaming for select shows since 2008, will be folded into Disney+, and the standalone app will be shut down for good. This would bring the U.S. in line with countless other countries that already use Disney+ to catch new episodes of The Bear and Only Murders In The Building. However, this doesn’t mean that Hulu subscribers will be forced to subscribe to Disney+. A Disney rep confirmed that the subscription will be available for separate purchase, just within the Disney+ app.
A move like this isn’t entirely surprising. Hulu began as a joint venture between Disney and NBCUniversal. Now, both have their own standalone streaming services, so in June 2025 Disney finalized a buyout of the NBCUniversal stake, freeing up the company to do whatever they like with the property.
But there are still unanswered questions: if Hulu will soon just be a “hub” on Disney+, then what about the hubs that are already on Hulu? If someone wants to watch the new episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, for example, will they have to navigate to “FX on Hulu on Disney+,” like a Matryoshka doll of parent companies?
One mystery has already been solved: the most difficult element of Hulu to transfer over would undoubtedly be the Live TV element. However, in January of this year, Hulu announced that its Live TV element will be combined with Fubo going forward as part of a settlement of an antitrust suit. So even if Hulu were to stay a separate app, Live TV would still be spun off anyway.
This may be a big change for your smart device’s home screen, but hypothetically, there won’t be much difference to the content itself. Hulu has been majority owned by Disney since 2019, and now they’re just bringing all their platforms into one place.
