The long and winding road of Hulu, which started in the pre-smartphone era as a streaming joint venture involving NBC and Fox, has concluded with the finalizing of Disney‘s buy-out of Comcast.Disney is paying an extra $438.7 million to Comcast’s NBCUniversal, on top of the $8.6 billion it committed in 2023 under the terms established in a put/call arrangement unveiled in 2019. That deal, which was accompanied by Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, fueled Disney’s streaming ambitions as it prepared to launch Disney+.While Disney gained full operational control of Hulu, the agreement preserved Comcast’s one-third financial position pending the outcome of negotiations over the final price. A $27.5 billion floor value was set, with multiple third-party appraisals then entering the discussions. Disney’s appraisal, not surprisingly, came in below the $27.5 billion level, while NBCU rendered an estimate that was “substantially” higher, Disney said in an SEC filing. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts publicly jockeyed over the value of the service in a sector increasingly defined by streaming.The transaction, completed Monday, “takes into account the valuation of a third appraiser,” the filing explained. Had the NBCU appraiser prevailed, the result would have been a payment to Comcast/NBCU of about $5 billion, Disney said.The buyout is slated to close on or before July 24.“We are pleased this is finally resolved,” Iger said in a statement. “We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck. Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.”Comcast said in a statement provided to Deadline, “Hulu was a great start for us in streaming that generated nearly $10 billion in proceeds for Comcast and created an important audience for NBCUniversal’s world-class content. We wish Disney well with Hulu and appreciate the cooperative way our teams managed the partnership.”Disney has been more closely integrating Hulu with its Disney+ flagship and its linear networks in recent years. Hulu remains a key participant in Disney’s vertical bundles as well as a successful one involving a third-party, HBO Max.After NBC and Fox hopped onboard the streaming pioneer ahead of its official founding in 2007, Disney soon followed and Time Warner would go on to take a 10% stake. In-fighting often hindered the progress of Hulu as its strategy continuously shifted. While each participant in the JV fell away as companies pursued their own independent strategies, the irony is that a Hulu-style coming together of legacy players is now coalescing as media giants grapple with the costs and murky financials of streaming compared with the lucrative pay-TV business.
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