Hulu Hangs In The Balance; Verizon Shutters Go90

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Outlook Hazy

The fate of Hulu depends on the outcome of Comcast’s and Disney’s bidding war for 21st Century Fox. Whoever wins will own a majority stake in Hulu, and both companies have very different visions for the platform’s future. Comcast wants to invest in Hulu’s Live TV bundle to recoup cord cutters and compete in the streaming market, while Disney wants to use Hulu as an adult counterpart to the child-friendly streaming service it’s building to compete with Netflix, reports The Wall Street Journal. Disney most recently topped Comcast with a $71.3 billion bid for 21st Century Fox, but regardless of who wins, the other player will retain a position in Hulu and power on its board.

Ad-Unsupported Content

Verizon is shuttering Go90 at the end of July, three years after it began testing the viability of a free, ad-supported streaming video service. Go90 operations had already been folded into Oath, Variety reports. There’s still plenty of optimism about ad-supported streaming, but subscription-focused players like Netflix and Amazon have gained the most share. Verizon pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Go90 and pulled all of its (considerable) online distribution levers, without ever coming close to critical mass.