Those subscribed to both Disney Plus and Hulu will be happy to know that a single app experience for both services is on the way, and will arrive before the end of the year.
At present, it is possible to bundle Disney Plus and Hulu together. They can either be bundled on their own as part of the Disney Duo Basic bundle or with ESPN Plus as part of a Disney Trio Basic/Premium bundle. Regardless of how Disney Plus and Hulu are bundled, subscribers have to switch apps to access content from the other service.
That’s now set to change by the end of this year and thanks to a new app experience. Explained by CEO Bob Iger during Disney’s earnings call, subscribers to both services will be able to access content from both services within the same app.
From what we understand, what this basically means is that the Disney Plus app will get a new Hulu tab where content from Hulu can be accessed. In this sense, Hulu is being integrated into the existing Disney Plus app and experience, with the change specifically designed to cater to those signed up to both services.
Providing that is the case, it is reasonable to assume that this won’t have any impact on those signed up to Hulu Live TV, as integrating the live TV element would be a far more significant and difficult endeavor than the combining of the on-demand libraries.
Likewise, both Disney Plus and Hulu are set to remain available as standalone options, so the unified app won’t have any impact on homes that are only signed up to one of the services.
Again, details are limited on this unified app experience, so it is possible that how it all works could change by the time the new version of the app launches later in the year.
During the same earnings call, Iger also confirmed that the cost of an ad-free Disney Plus subscription is going to increase once again. Considering that change is also due to take place later this year, it is possible both the price increase and the unified app experience might arrive around the same time.
