With This Move, Comcast Indicates That It's Coming for Disney
A long-standing content-sharing relationship between Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) NBCUniversal and Hulu, which is controlled by Disney (NYSE: DIS), is coming to an end. For many years, NBCUniversal shows including Saturday Night Live and The Voice have debuted on linear TV and then moved to Hulu the day after. However, starting on Sept. 19, NBCUniversal's next-day content will transfer over to Comcast's Peacock rather than Hulu. The move represents the latest stage in Comcast's breakup with Hulu, and signals an even bigger push by the company to take on Disney in the streaming space.
Hulu launched in 2007 and over the years it attracted a consortium of owners that have included Disney, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner, and Comcast. Through a series of mergers and stock sales, Walt Disney established itself as the majority stakeholder with 67% ownership, while Comcast owns the rest. Although the two entertainment businesses haven't agreed on a price, Comcast intends to sell its 33% share of Hulu to Disney by January 2024.
As the minority stakeholder in Hulu, Comcast's decision to focus on its own Peacock platform should come as no surprise. And it's got room to build. Hulu has 46.2 million paid customers, which comprise a decent portion of Walt Disney's collective 221 million subscriptions. By contrast, Peacock has 28 million monthly active accounts, 13 million of which are paid, premium subscriptions.
Source Fool.com
