Comcast gives Disney full control of Hulu

Comcast's departure from Hulu's board of directors will allow Disney to expand the platform's reach to national and international markets and take on other giants in the streaming business such as Netflix, Amazon or Apple.

Walt Disney has closed an agreement with Comcast to take full control of the platform Hulu. The deal, which gives Hulu a minimum equity value of more than 27 billion dollars will allow either company to initiate a sale or purchase of Comcast's 33% stake to Disney beginning in January 2024. Comcast has also agreed to finance Hulu's recent purchase of Comcast's 9.5% stake. AT&T by the company.

By setting an expiration date of five years from now, Comcast is betting that the value of its stake will double without any additional financial obligations.

Comcast's departure from Hulu's board of directors will allow Disney to expand the platform's reach to national and international markets and take on other giants in the streaming business such as Netflix, Amazon or Apple.

On the other hand, Disney is preparing to launch its own streaming service called Disney+ next November 12.

Comcast, which is also preparing to launch an NBCUniversal ad-supported streaming service in the middle of next year, has said it will extend its licensing agreement to provide NBCUniversal shows and its live channels through the end of 2024 and will agree to distribute Hulu on Comcast's cable platform.

To preserve the ability to run NBCUniversal shows on its own service, NBCUniversal will have the option to offer some of the shows it currently licenses exclusively to Hulu within a year in exchange for lower licensing fees. NBCU will also have the option to end most of its licensing agreements with Hulu within three years.