Comcast, the company that owns the popular online streaming video service Hulu is officially selling the mentioned service to media-giant Disney. Although the sale will not happen for at least another five years, the company confirms that Disney will now be taking full operational control of Hulu effective today. It’s now and effectively a product of the Disney company.
Hulu is no stranger when it comes to video streaming services. In fact, it’s one of the most recommended streaming websites to watch your favorite anime like My Hero Academia, Hunter X Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Attack on Titan.
Disney became a majority stakeholder of Hulu in March after it closed a deal with most of Fox’s company assets. WarnerMedia last month agreed to sell 9.5% of its interest back to Hulu. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said that “Hulu represents the best of television.”
Hulu, as of this time, has over 27 million paid subscribers which is lower than its direct competitor Netflix that has almost 150 million subscribers around the world, where 60 million of its users alone are from the United States. As of this writing, Hulu is still strictly only available in the United States with no news so far of branching out to other regions.
In the talk of anime, its competitor Netflix is ahead with its larger streaming library of anime. On the platform, you’ll be able to watch Baki the Grappler, The Seven Deadly Sins, Naruto, Castlevania, One Punch Man, and Kakegurui. They even pulled a nostalgia wave when they made all episodes and movies of Neon Genesis Evangelion available for streaming.
Previously, Netflix revealed that they are producing a live-action adaptation of One Piece, a series based on the popular Resident Evil video game series, and a live-action series adaptation of the Cowboy Bebop anime.
Disney continues to dominate mass media. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they slowly get into the anime industry in the near future. Buying Hulu is probably just a start, let’s see how this unfolds.
Source: CNN Business
