Disney+ recently added several new features as part of its ongoing Hulu integration, and today a leaked internal document reveals Disney’s plans to shut down the Hulu app once the transition is complete.
‘Project Gemini’ details Disney’s plans to integrate Hulu into Disney+ before shutting it down
James Faris, writing at Business Insider:
A screenshot of an internal Disney streaming document, obtained by Business Insider, outlined a multi-phased plan called “Project Gemini” to bring Hulu’s content and features to Disney+. This unified experience is expected to be completed by year’s end, according to the document and two streaming employees.
“The Hulu tech stack and app will be decommissioned after all users have transitioned” from that app into Disney+, the document said.
Three high-ranking Disney tech employees also said that the company is diverting resources away from Hulu and isn’t adding major new features to the app anymore. “Hulu is on life support at this point, with no active development,” a veteran streaming product employee working on Hulu said.
Officially, Disney says that it has “no current plans” to sunset the Hulu app. But clearly, based on the internal document, those plans are in the works for a later date.
The integration of Hulu into Disney+ has long been a priority for Disney, and may ultimately pave the way for bigger “super app” ambitions the company has been hinting at.
It sounds like Disney isn’t going to suddenly kick Hulu users off the platform and force them into Disney+, at least not any time soon. However, per one quoted employee, the company wants to “get folks to migrate organically” from Hulu to Disney+ “by offering a better experience.”
In other words, the Hulu app will progressively get worse over time due to lack of investment, while Disney+ keeps getting better. And eventually, that should cause a natural migration that leads to Hulu’s full discontinuation.
What do you think of Disney’s plans to shut down the Hulu app eventually? Let us know in the comments.
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