NBC Ditches Hulu for Peacock, Leaving Disney Stranded Solo
If you missed John Mulaney’s recent subway-themed musical on “Saturday Night Live” or the grand return of the original “Law & Order” — America missed you, Jack McCoy — then you can currently hop on over to either Peacock (CCZ) – Get Comcast Corp. Report or Hulu (DIS) – Get Walt Disney Company Report and get caught up.
But starting this fall, you will only be able to check out “Saturday Night Live” on Sunday afternoon on Peacock, because NBC and Hulu have officially announced they are getting a divorce, and NBC’s streaming platform is getting sole custody of Jimmy Fallon.
At the moment, Hulu and NBC have a deal that new episodes of shows such as “Saturday Night Live,” “The Voice” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” are available the day after they are on the network.
But once NBCUniversal and Hulu’s current partnership ends in the fall, those episodes will only be available on NBC’s streaming service Peacock.
A Brief Hulu History
NBC and Hulu had good times in the beginning.
Hulu launched to the public in 2008, the same year that Netflix (NFLX) – Get Netflix, Inc. Report introduced streaming, and when TiVo, file-sharing and the then-exploding DVD market was changing viewership habits and eroding the idea of “Must See TV.”
Or at least, “Must See Right When It Airs.”
NBC Universal, News Corporation and Providence Equity Partners were the main founders of Hulu in 2007, and NBC and Fox were the original network partners for the streaming service.
NBC seemed to have skin in the game in the beginning, as early ads featured Alec Baldwin essentially playing his character from the NBC hit “30 Rock.”
For much of the last decade, Hulu struggled in Netflix’s shadow.
But over the years it’s come into its own by adding more NBC and Fox shows such as “Bob’s Burgers” onto the service, and developing buzz-worthy shows such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and films like the cult favorite “Palm Springs.”
In 2013 News Corporation’s stake in Hulu was officially transferred to 21st Century Fox, which was sold to Disney in 2019, a move that caught many in the entertainment industry by surprise.
Once the deal was complete, Disney owned the majority of Hulu, with Comcast — which purchased NBC Universal in 2013 — owning a minority stake of 33%.
It’s uncertain how long that will be the case, as under the terms of the ownership agreement, Comcast can require Disney to buy it out of Hulu as early as 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal.
NBC
NBC Really Wants You To Check Out Peacock
Comcast owns 33% of Hulu, but it currently owns all of its streaming service Peacock, which is available in a free, ad-supported version and two premium, add free tiers.
As such, the company is doing what it can to make it a major player in the streaming world, which it definitely is not right now.
At the end of 2021, NBC said that Peacock had 9 million paying subscribers out of a total of 24.5 million accounts.
Those are not the sort of numbers that are going to keep executives at Disney (118.1 subscribers) or Netflix (222 million subscribers) up at night. Heck, even Hulu has 45.3 million.
But streaming empires don’t happen overnight, and the networks long ago realizes that people mainly only watch live television for sports and special events, and they’ll check out their favorite shows when they feel like it.
So NBCUniversal is determined to make Peacock work, and if that means making its high profile shows Peacock-exclusive, well, it wouldn’t be the first time. NBC did not renew its deal with Netflix for “The Office” and “Parks and Recreations,” and instead had them ready when the service debuted in the summer of 2020.
In an earnings call from last month, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was clear about the company’s strategy.
“Obviously much of our strong NBC content … premieres on Hulu, and over time we’d like to bring that back to Peacock,” Shell said.
So What Can We Expect Now?
NBCUniversal has committed to spending $5 billion on content for Peacock over the years and is doing what it can to people people’s attention. It recently premiered the Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson romantic comedy “Marry Me” on Peacock and in theaters on the same day.
In addition to recently airing the Olympics and the coming Super Bowl, it also has high-profile events such as English Premier League soccer games and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. programming.
All of those attract live television viewers, though viewers can watch them live through the service.
But while NBC will remove episodes of currently airing shows this fall, it is expected that NBC titles such as “My Name Is Earl” and “Scrubs” will remain on the service.
Hulu will also have plenty of material to check out, including FX shows like the hotly anticipated return of “Atlanta” and ABC’s breakout hit “Abbott Elementary,” so there’s no need to worry about it.
Various clips from SNL and the late night talk shows will, presumably, still be on YouTube for the foreseeable future, as NBC is no doubt aware that’s just where younger viewers watch them.
