So much for “no current plans” to sunset the app.
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If you thought the news that Disney wasn’t planning to axe Hulu’s standalone app seemed too good to be true, it appears you were right. Despite the entertainment giant’s official line earlier this month that “All Hulu subscribers will also continue to have access to the standalone app to stream their favorite Hulu content,” that access may be short-lived. Business Insider reported that, according to an internal memo, Disney will look to eventually close down the streaming service it took over starting in 2023.
According to BI, the document lays out Disney’s plan to migrate Hulu content and features into its own Disney+ platform, which could be accomplished by the end of 2026. “The Hulu tech stack and app will be decommissioned after all users have transitioned” to Disney’s own platform, the memo reportedly reads. BI also cited tech employees from Disney who claimed that Hulu wasn’t getting much love in the way of new features or development.
Disney hasn’t made any secret that it planned to have the Hulu and Disney+ services unified in a single app, but when its reps had just proclaimed that there were “no current plans” to end Hulu, this leak does leave the company looking less than trustworthy. The silver lining in the situation is that if or when Hulu’s app does disappear, Disney may continue offering distinct subscriptions as well as bundle packages in order to keep hitting all those potential revenue streams. That could mean the Hulu die-hards out there might not be forced to upgrade their subscriptions to include Disney+ content.
