Hulu and Disney Plus have officially tied the knot. After almost four months of beta testing, the streaming bundle is here at last, giving people a way to watch content from both services on a single smart TV app.
Disney Plus even made some stylistic changes to its platform as a way to celebrate the union. The logo is more bluish-green, referring to the colors of each platform, and the startup audio mark will sound more orchestral.
For the most part, the final and beta versions are very similar. Hulu will exist on Disney Plus as its own hub alongside Marvel movies and other brand name content in the United States (Hulu isn’t available anywhere else in the world). That part hasn’t changed. However, new information from Disney’s announcement as well as other online reports offer insight into how the partnership will work.
What you need to know
Bundle plans containing both services will start at $9.99 a month for the standard subscription with ads. That’s $2 more than Disney Plus Basic. There will also be a premium plan without commercials for $19.99 a month. Alongside these two, the company will offer a pair of Trio subscriptions that include ESPN Plus as part of the package.
Trio Basic combines all three for $14.99 a month. As the name suggests, this version includes ads. Trio Premium removes the commercials and bumps up the price to $24.99. Of course, you can always purchase a subscription to whatever platform you want separately. Multiple viewing options will continue to exist.
Not everything on Hulu will be available on Disney Plus. Variety says certain shows, like Modern Family and Love Island, are not going to show up because of “content licensing restrictions”. These restrictions were first seen in the beta and remain for the time being.
New interoperability
Starting today, March 27, Disney Plus will begin to recommend Hulu content to viewers in order to encourage them to buy the new bundle. Developers at the company also made changes to the service’s search engine to improve content personalization.
According to The Verge, “what you watch on Hulu will affect your Disney Plus recommendations and vice versa”. What’s more, it may be possible to merge accounts. A company representative told us that if you have subscriptions to both services and you use the same email, the Hulu tile will automatically show up on the Disney Plus app. If you use different emails, you’ll have to contact Disney Plus support to link them together.
There is one major exclusion in all this: no live channels. Nothing from Hulu Live TV will be present “for the foreseeable future”. If you want sports, reps told us you’ll have to purchase one of the Disney Trio plans.
If you’re looking for recommendations, check out TechRadar’s collection of the 41 best Hulu shows you can watch right now. Shōgun’s pretty good.