In a move that can only be described as “how has this not happened sooner,” NBCUniversal has cancelled its deal with Hulu. This now allows new episodes of current shows to appear on the popular streamer the day after airing, allowing those of us who have ditched our cable companies to at least keep up on the ongoing seasons.
Since its launch in 2020, Peacock has been struggling to grow its subscriber base. The creation of exclusive content like Bel-Air (a reimagining of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and The Lost Symbol (based on the Dan Brown novel), as well as coverage of the recent 2022 winter Olympics, probably help it some, but it’s still finding itself losing money. NBCU reported that for Q4 of 2021, Peacock’s losses amounted to $559 million. Though I’m not smart enough to understand the losses and how it breaks down by the streamer, that seems pretty severe to me.
So, what does this move mean for Hulu? Not much, it seems. Despite being a setback for TV fans, the cancellation is not likely to hurt Hulu. A company statement released to the press noted, “With the proliferation of streaming services entering the marketplace, we have long-anticipated changes to our third-party content offering and over the past few years have increased our investment in original content.”
Based on that statement, Hulu was preparing for the exodus of content owned by other outlets and the growing surge of new streaming services, so they leaned into the original content arena. That’s why Hulu-exclusive shows and movies like “Only Murders in the Building,” “How I Met Your Father,” and the new Sebastian Stan-led film “Fresh” have been highly publicized.
For fans, though, it means that in order to keep up with the latest episodes of “Law and Order” and “Saturday Night Live,” they’ll have to subscribe to yet another streaming service, making the current method of watching television as complicated as and nearing the expense of a cable subscription.
Personally, I’m disappointed by the move as I am quite enjoying the new series “The Endgame” with Morena Baccarin and I’ll miss not being able to keep up with it after the first season—assuming it gets renewed, that is.
