Disney killing Hulu app next year

The streaming landscape is messy, to put things mildly. If we didn’t have enough conflict between services fighting over streaming rights, like the current acrimony between HBO Max and Paramount over South Park, we also see ownership of entire streaming platforms themselves changing hands. Over the last several years, Disney solidified its position in Hulu before eventually acquiring full ownership. Now we’re learning of what probably should have felt like an inevitable conclusion of that deal, as the company starts moving to consolidate its streaming apps.

Disney shared the news during this week’s earnings call, reports Variety, with plans to introduce a unified app at some point next year. While Disney Plus already includes Hulu content, the two have still continued to exist as separate apps so far.

Although Disney will still let subscribers get Hulu without forcing a Disney Plus bundle on them, it sounds like the stand-alone Hulu app as we know it is being retired in the name of cost savings and a more consistent user experience.

Depending on what your Hulu usage looks like, this might not sound like a problem at all — and it very well may not be. But we’re also immediately seeing edge cases where subscribers could find an integrated app causing them some headaches.

Take, for instance, Hulu’s absolutely killer Black Friday deals. Every year, the service runs a promo where you can get a year of ad-supported streaming for a dollar or two a month. Now, this is supposed to be for new subscribers, but there’s never been anything stopping you from changing email addresses and starting fresh — you could even go back to an old address later on, just juggling a few.

If you’re also using any of those emails for Disney Plus, we could see a situation where it suddenly gets much more difficult to take advantage of these offers. Granted, we’re sure that’s absolutely what Disney wants, so maybe you should just be grateful you’ve been able to stretch those deals out for as long as you have.

In any case, you should have at least a few months more respite, with integration not set to go down until at some point in 2026.