Walt Disney Co. said it will acquire a 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast for at least $8.6 billion, a deal that will give Disney full control of the streaming service.
Disney has promised its own crackdown on non-paying users and raised prices for ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu by 20% to 27%. CEO Bob Iger said in August that the increases were designed to steer consumers toward cheaper ad-supported versions of those channels, whose subscription prices did not change.
The advertising market for streaming is “picking up,” Iger said at the time, noting that it’s healthier than traditional TV ads. “We’re obviously trying with our pricing strategy to migrate more subs to the advertising supported tier.”
Yuk.