Netflix is the undisputed champion of streaming TV. Subscribers spend more than 140 million hours a day on the service, whose popular shows include "Stranger Things" and "House of Cards."
But that dominance now faces a credible threat from the Walt Disney Co., which would gain a majority stake in Hulu as part of its $52.4 billion acquisition Thursday of most of 21st Century Fox's key assets.
The deal would give Disney ownership of 60 percent of Hulu, a streaming video service in which Disney, Fox and Comcast previously held equal shares. Such outsize control could offer Disney a significant leg up in its plans to introduce its own streaming service. The company said in August that it would end its distribution agreement with Netflix for new films so that it could instead deliver that content to its own digital service planned for 2019.
Disney could choose to scrap those plans in favor of using Hulu to realize its streaming ambitions. It could also absorb Hulu into the planned subscription service. Or it could let the two properties operate separately with different target audiences.
Netflix said it was too soon to tell if Disney would pose a serious challenge.
"It's early days," the company said in a statement. "There is a lot still to understand about this deal and it's implications for consumers."
Hulu has been having more success after years of playing catch-up to its two bigger rivals, Netflix and Amazon. The 10-year-old joint venture has received critical praise for some of its original shows, such as "The Handmaid's Tale."
Before Thursday's deal, Disney, Fox and Comcast held 30 percent stakes in Hulu while Time Warner held the remaining 10 percent (which could eventually go to AT&T if the federal government is unable to block its bid for Time Warner). Doubling its stakes would allow Disney to call the shots at a company that always faced a delicate, if not awkward, balancing act among its powerful owners.
Hulu would immediately benefit from Disney's marketing machine, analysts say, giving the streaming service much-needed firepower to compete with Netflix (which scored maximum exposure for its "Stranger Things" franchise).
"What Disney brings to the table is a massive marketing operation," said Peter Csathy, founder of the advisory firm Creatv Media. "Disney touches us like no other company."
Csathy said he expects Disney to retain Hulu as a place to reach adults. A Disney-branded service would target younger audiences _ a key battleground given that more than half of Netflix's users watch children's and family content.
Those two properties, coupled with an ESPN digital platform planned for next year, will give cord cutters ample reason to turn to Disney, Csathy said.
Netflix currently enjoys a commanding lead among streaming services. The Los Gatos, Calif., company has 128 million U.S. users to Amazon's 85.3 million and Hulu's 34.7 million, according to eMarketer.
