Hulu and Disney Plus have officially tied the knot. After nearly four months of beta testing, the streaming bundle is finally here, allowing people to watch content from both services on one smart TV app.
Disney Plus even made some stylistic changes to the platform as a way to celebrate the union. The logo is more teal, referencing the colors of each platform and the audio highlight at startup 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 films and other branded content in the United States (Hulu is not available anywhere else in the world). That part hasn’t changed. However, new information from Disney’s announcement and other online reports offer insight into how the partnership will work.
What you need to know
Bundle plans that include both services start at $9.99 per month for the Standard plan with ads. That’s $2 more than Disney Plus Basic. There will also be a premium subscription without ads for $19.99 per month. In addition to these two, the company offers a few Trio subscriptions which include ESPN Plus as part of the package.
Trio Basic combines all three for $14.99 per month. As the name suggests, this version contains advertisements. Trio Premium removes the ads and increases the price to $24.99. Of course, you can always purchase a subscription separately on whichever platform you want. Multiple viewing options remain.
Not everything on Hulu will be available on Disney Plus. Variety says certain shows, such as Modern family And Love Island, will not appear due to “content licensing restrictions”. These limitations were first seen in the beta and will remain for now.
New interoperability
Starting today, March 27, Disney Plus will begin recommending Hulu content to viewers to encourage them to purchase the new bundle. Developers at the company have also made changes to the service’s search engine to improve content personalization.
According to TheVerge, “what you watch on Hulu affects your Disney Plus recommendations and vice versa.” In addition, it may be possible to merge accounts. A company representative told us that if you have subscriptions to both services and use the same email, the Hulu tile will automatically appear in the Disney Plus app. If you use different email addresses, please contact us Disney Plus support to link them together.
There’s one big exclusion in all of this: no live channels. None of Hulu Live TV will be around “for the foreseeable future.” If you’re into sports, reps told us you should buy one of the Disney Trio subscriptions.
If you’re looking for recommendations, check out Ny Breaking’s roundup of the 41 best Hulu shows to watch right now. Shoguns quite good.