Disney+, Hulu, and Max to Offer Subscription Streaming Bundle

In a statement, president of direct-to-consumer for Disney, Joe Earley, said:

“On the heels of the very successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will offer subscribers even more choice and value. This incredible new partnership puts subscribers first, giving them access to blockbuster films, originals, and three massive libraries featuring the very best brands and entertainment in streaming today.”

It’s true that bundling Disney+, Hulu, and Max will offer a substantive catalog of media, which should help Warner and Disney navigate the notoriously tough streaming market. If we’re able to bundle three services into one subscription, that might help ease the pain many of us experience when searching for a movie only to find it’s not on any one of the dozens of subscription services we pay for. That, and streaming has been a very tough market for studios, which have had to constantly battle the ever-present issue of “churn” — a term that essentially refers to the amount of users canceling their subscriptions each month. A bundle such as this should go a long way to helping combat that particular challenge.

A lot of this will, of course, come down to how competitively the new bundle is priced, but it’s an intriguing prospect — not to mention a significant moment in the streaming age, marking as it does the first major cross-studio streaming partnership. Still, it’s hard not to notice the ways in which these streaming services are slowly morphing back into what is essentially cable, with ads and now multiple platforms (i.e. channels) being offered as part of one monthly subscription. After years of demolishing what came before it, new media is becoming old media again, and this is just another reminder of that fact.