“One of the most sought-after streaming services will soon make its way to Canada and beyond.
Hulu, an over-the-top media service based in Santa Monica, will soon be available in Canada as well as the rest of the world. Originally only available in the U.S., it will now expand due to Disney’s purchase of Fox, a direct parent organization of Hulu. The streaming service is also co-owned by Disney themselves, as well as NBC Universal and Warner Media.
The news comes from Disney’s latest earnings call, where the company’s CEO Bob Iger said the plan is to take advantage of Hulu’s depth of content in addition to building Disney’s own soon-to-launch streaming service (called Disney+) out. The acquisition of Fox gives Disney the controlling stake in Hulu, so they will easily be able to expand it beyond the U.S.
The acquisition itself will be finalized in 2019, so don’t expect to see Hulu on Canadian small screens this year, but for streaming fans, this offers another reason to cut the cable cord. There’s a possibility some shows currently available on Hulu may not make it to Canada and abroad due to licensing restrictions, but the service’s catalog is very deep, so there will still be a lot to choose from.
Right now, Hulu is reported to be the third most popular streaming service in the world, trailing Netflix in first and Amazon Prime Video in second. With the international expansion, there’s a good chance Hulu’s subscriber count will rise, but they have a ways to go—it’s reported Hulu has over 20 million paying subscribers, while both Amazon Prime Video and Netflix top 100 million.
Unless two random blogs no one's heard of have gotten access to some exclusive version of Disney's IR materials, I'm calling fake news.
From the transcript, Canada is never once mentioned by Disney, though Hulu expanding internationally is:
Without Sky, we're still planning on taking Disney+ out in Europe. We also plan on working with Hulu to introduce Hulu in more international markets as well. It could possibly be that it takes us a little bit longer to penetrate some of these markets, but we believe in the product that we will be launching, and we'll make sure that that product is tailored for the various European markets, not just because it needs to be -- it needs to satisfy what will be quotas for SVODs in Europe, but also because we think it needs to be locally relevant. And we're going to be selective in terms of the markets that we choose initially, but we believe we're going to win -- that we have a real opportunity there, particularly when it comes to the Disney branded service, which is going to feature Marvel and Pixar and Star Wars and Disney, of course, and then National Geographic. Those are all very attractive brands in those markets, and that's going to make that product extremely unique and in-demand.
I can't really say much yet about Hulu in terms of international markets, although we're just looking at basically a set of priorities in terms of how we're going to launch Disney. And then after the deal closes and after we have the 60% ownership, we'll meet with the Hulu management team and the board and discuss what the opportunities are in terms of both global growth and investing more in content. But that's something that we have to do after the deal closes.
I don't think it's a rational leap to assume that means it's launching in Canada. Hulu would be a very difficult service to operate here because of its dependence on off-network shows that already have homes in Canada.
I don't think it's a rational leap to assume that means it's launching in Canada. Hulu would be a very difficult service to operate here because of its dependence on off-network shows that already have homes in Canada.
True - but that was also true for CBS All Access, and it did eventually launch here with less content (for example, it doesn't have any of the Star Trek content, or even some current CBS shows like Blue Bloods).
What I'd guess, is that future contracts would protect Hulu assets, and that ultimately they'll launch once they have enough content. Ditto for Disney itself.
What I can see happening though is for Hulu to make a deal with the Cable Co's (Rogers and Shaw primarily) to create an ALT TV competitor to Bell and also allow access to the content that Shaw and Rogers own which is fairly sizeable (Food Network, W Network / Hallmark, Dejaview, ABC Spark, SN, FX, FXX, Cooking Channel, etc.) and also some deals with channels that are unaffiliated with either (A&E, TLC, CNN, CBC, etc.). Throw this in with the stuff that Hulu already owns that Bell doesn't have access to (the ABC / Disney catalog and the 21st Century Fox content that they recently purchased) and all of a sudden you have a pretty good product. If priced right it could do really well.
This article's source is actually the one you posted in the OP, which cites a Disney investor's meeting that never mentions Canada. Broken telephone of shoddy reporting.
last night I was streaming the Vancouver-montreal hockey game on cbc web site and one of the commercials was a hulu commercial saying that they are going to ruin tv for you.it was the same commercial they use in the usa
@wmjfoley85 We all know the title of that article "It's Official: Disney-Owned Streaming Service Hulu Is Coming To Canada" is untrue. Neither Hulu or Disney made an official announcement about Canada. Thanks to @DarksideDan for posting the link to the Disney transcript, confirming they didn't even mention Canada.
It's quite possible that a version of Hulu will launch in Canada, but it will probably be similar to CBS All Access. The other thing to keep in mind is that each partner studio controls its own content, so NBC and all its specialty channels and AT&T (Warner Media/Turner) can continue to license exclusive rights to the Canadian channels even if Disney uses its 60% control to launch Hulu in Canada.
As long as Canadian broadcasters pay the content owners more than they can make from streaming it themselves, we will see very limited premium content on services such as CBS All Access or Hulu. Some Canadian Broadcasters are very difficult negotiators when it comes to the way they license content from US broadcasters. If they say it's either exclusive access or we won't pay, chances are they will get exclusive access.
@nfitz the problem with the article is that it states it as FACT that Hulu Is Coming To Canada and says "It's Official." That's the part that's not true.
In case you missed what Disney actually said, I'll repeat what @DarksideDanposted:
And then after the deal closes and after we have the 60% ownership, we'll meet with the Hulu management team and the board and discuss what the opportunities are in terms of both global growth and investing more in content. But that's something that we have to do after the deal closes.
Which means that Disney hasn't even discussed international expansion with Hulu management and won't discuss it until next year. If Hulu had intentionally placed an ad on Canadian television like Amazon Prime Video or CBS All Access or DAZN have done, then I would believe it's coming to Canada. The web ad sounds like it was accidentally placed on the CBC web site by a programmatic ad buy where the ad buyer doesn't know where the ads will be placed.
I'm not saying that Hulu won't expand into Canada. I'm saying that right now it's just speculation without any evidence.
@nfitz the problem with the article is that it states it as FACT that Hulu Is Coming To Canada and says "It's Official." That's the part that's not true.
I'm not sure I'd honour a website like that, by referring to any of their contents as "articles"!
Certainly that it's official isn't true. It was the coming to Canada I was referring to - where I can't prove that it's not going to happen. That's all.
That ad was on a streamed program so it was probably a targeted ad based on the viewer's web browsing and interests. It may have nothing to do with Hulu being available in Canada. The CBC may not even be aware of what advertising is included with their streamed content and probably don't care that much as long as they get paid. It may also be part of a global Hulu ad campaign that is simply targeted to all countries regardless of whether or not they currently plan to expand there.
Don't know where you heard that but it is pure rumour. It is speculation that they will even come to Canada, let alone any kind of timeline being announced.
Now that Disney Plus has launched in Canada, does anyone think that Hulu will soon come to Canada as well? Disney does now control Hulu so I would think that they would be preparing to bring Hulu to Canada and internationally at some point.
I think it's inevitable Hulu comes to Canada. There may be some content restrictions as some of the content is licensed through other providers for this market (Netflix, Amazon, Crave / CTVBell Media, etc.). But I think at some point it will get here, it would essentially be an adult Disney+ as from what I see when checking out Hulu in the states, the majority of its content is not available on OTT here so it would make sense to add the value proposition to Disney+ and make money off of it in general in Canada.
I don't see Hulu operating in Canada at all. I also don't see Hulu lasting much longer in the US, at least not in its current form. Now that Disney and NBC (the two main broadcast owners) have launched their own services they may pull their content from Hulu. That will make Hulu a lame duck with much a weaker catalog.
but Disney has said that all not family friendly programming will be on there other service hulu.that's why in the usa it has a special price for Disney+ , hulu and espn+ for $12.99.so hulu will be around for along time.and here an interesting article about hulu.https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/disney-hulu-comcast-netflix-1.5135188
My guess is Disney+ will be the platform for programming targeted to kids and family and Hulu will be the platform for programming targeted for adults. I would assume that most of the content for both services will likely just be Disney and FOX as well as any other studios that were absorbed by these two companies. I believe there is also some Warner Bros series on Hulu. There was lots of CBS Studio stuff at one point too but I'm guessing all that disappeared when CBS All Access established itself.
Disney is and always has played the family friendly card. They have already stated that mainstream movie content will not be aired on Disney+. They have recently decided to sell Touchstone Pictures which was created to produce mainstream films. So yes, I can see Disney leaving much of their ABC content on Hulu. ABC is generally quite tame so some of it may make it onto Disney+.
I am amused to no end that anytime something is announced as "coming soon internationally", people presume Canada will be instantly getting it. There are many reasons Hulu won't be coming to Canada anytime soon, imo. Most content is already locked up and there are much bigger markets out there.
Canada got Disney Plus and Disney owns Hulu, and Disney has announced they are expanding Hulu internationally then I think it stands to reason that Canada, if not immediately then at some point, will get Hulu although it obviously won't have the same content as Hulu in the United States.
I think it was a terrible error in the first FTA to not make Canada and the USA into a single copyright and broadcasting domain. I don’t know if the Americans would have agreed but the Canadian content gang would have screamed in anguish and probably found a way to stop it.
I can see a streaming service called Hulu launching in Canada in 2021. I don't see it being the same version as the U.S. or what people have come to expect from that iteration. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just the content Disney owns that would clash with +'s family-friendly persona. I'm not too sure how compelling an offer consisting of Freeform's garbage and the FX cable nets will be.
Their future is in the live-streaming business. Could be that the international roll-out in 2021 is on that side of their offering.
In the meantime, while most of their shows are on other platforms in Canada (many are on Prime Video), I'm not sure where Into the Dark landed on a CA service??
The 'Into the Dark' available on Prime in Canada is a movie from 2014 with Ryan Eggold.
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