Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference on Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Chapnek said that he believes there is a clear path to merging both Disney+ and Hulu under one app, according to Deadline. The problem, however, is that Comcast would need to be bought out of their deal with Disney in order for this merger to happen.
Per Deadline, under the terms of deal reached by the companies when Disney acquired most of 21st Century Fox, Disney can buy out Comcast at the start of 2024. Disney does not fully own Hulu as Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal owns a third of the streaming service. Chapek said he “would love to” get the buyout done sooner, but he also indicated that Comcast is not in a rush to complete it. Deadline also reported that recent estimates have determined the value of a potential buyout at $27.5 billion.
Chapnek said this about a potential merging of the two streaming services at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference.
“The thing that you worry about when you’re Disney is brand friction, with some of the content that we may have in general entertainment. I am amazed every day in this job how elastic the Disney brand is. I would tell you that we have had no blowback whatsoever in terms of including that general entertainment content on a Disney-branded streaming proposition (in territories outside the U.S.). I’m not saying it would be received exactly like that in the U.S., but it gives us some reason to believe that we have more degrees of freedom than anybody would have ever suspected,” Chapnek said, per Deadline.
Chapnek also said that a potential merger would minimize what he calls “consumer friction,” which stems from consumers having to move between streaming services to watch certain content.
“Long-term, we can avoid that, and 2024 is not that far away,” Chapnek said, per Deadline.