Walt Disney and Warner Bros have said they will join forces to offer the video streaming services Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single bundle, in a move that will unite Game of Thrones with Star Wars.
The companies said the bundle would be available from this summer for customers in the US to buy on any of the three streaming platforms’ websites, with a choice of ad-supported or ad-free plans. They did not give an indication of pricing.
There is intense competition between streaming services, which are battling for market share even as they contend with heavy losses and consumers struggling with the cost of living crisis.
During the Covid crisis the services boomed, and streaming companies such as Netflix, Disney and Apple poured billions of dollars into making expensive shows to draw in subscribers. However, as growth has slowed the companies have focused more on cutting costs and trying to reach profitability.
Disney has had majority control of Hulu since 2019 and it has sought to gradually shift the service into its main Disney+ service. Disney+ is best known for its family-friendly catalogue, including Marvel films, Star Wars and decades of animated films from Walt Disney and Pixar.
Warner Bros’ Max platform hosts the more adult-oriented HBO brand, which includes series such as The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and The Last of Us, and other content such as Discovery documentaries and the CNN news channel.
Paolo Pescatore, a media analyst at PP Foresight, said the traditional media companies were moving back towards their model from before the internet, that of delivering several services together.
Those services were often delivered by cable or by satellite in the US, UK and elsewhere, but that profitable service has been disrupted by the rise of Netflix and other media companies’ belated attempts to catch up.
“Those traditional media giants have struggled to make the transition towards a streaming-led TV future,” Pescatore said. “We are effectively seeing the return of the big bundle, delivered over the internet.”
Sport and live events have become an increasingly important part of media companies’ offerings. Netflix will stream WWE wrestling, and Disney is planning to stream live sports from its ESPN network. Sky, which is owned by Comcast, on Wednesday announced a new Sky Sports+ streaming service to launch in August that will show matches from across the English Football League (the 72 teams below the Premier League). The service will represent a shift in focus for Sky, which has tried to keep customers using set-top boxes.
JB Perrette, the chief executive for global streaming and games at Warner Bros Discovery, said: “This new offering delivers for consumers the greatest collection of entertainment for the best value in streaming, and will help drive incremental subscribers and much stronger retention.”
Disney’s core streaming business has lost more than $11bn since it was launched in 2019, although on Wednesday it announced its first ever quarterly profit, for the first three months of 2024. It has aggressively cut costs and raised prices for consumers.
