Disney+ subscribers will likely see big changes to their streaming experience soon, as the future of Hulu content is suddenly uncertain.

In late 2023, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company would fully acquire the popular streaming service Hulu. Until then, it was jointly owned with NBCUniversal, the media company owned by cable and tech giant Comcast. However, Disney CEO Bob Iger’s obsession with creating a super-expensive streaming service that includes all of the mouse’s content seems to have pushed the company into what is now becoming a dangerously unsustainable business.

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Disney and NBCUniversal are arguing about how much Hulu is worth and how much more the mouse house has to pay Comcast to The bear Streaming on Disney+. In 2023, the iconic media company paid $8.6 billion to NBCUniversal to buy out its 33 percent stake in the streaming service, based on a $27.5 billion valuation for Hulu (according to Yahoo Finance).

Both companies have hired outside appraisers to confirm Hulu’s value, and – surprise, surprise – Disney believes it paid enough money, while NBCUniversal believes it will have to pay much more. In fact, the $27.5 billion valuation was far below the streaming service’s true value, according to NBCUniversal. Now a third appraiser has been hired and has filed a report with the SEC that doesn’t look good for Disney.

The new SEC filing states: “In November 2023, NBCUniversal exercised its right to require Disney to purchase its 33% interest in Hulu at a redemption value based on NBCU’s equity interest and equal to the greater of the fair value of Hulu’s equity or a guaranteed minimum value of $27.5 billion.

It goes on to say that Disney will be on the hook for a whole lot more money if the appraiser values ​​Hulu higher than previously estimated. The report states: “If Hulu’s equity value is determined to be higher than the guaranteed minimum value following a contractual valuation process, the Company will be obligated to pay NBCU its share of the difference between the equity value and the guaranteed minimum value… If the third-party appraiser’s determination of equity value were between the Company’s appraisers’ valuations and NBCU’s, the additional amount would also be between zero and approximately $5 billion.”

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From a distance, this seems like just paperwork between two giant corporations. In reality, it’s a huge deal that directly affects consumers, especially Disney+ and Hulu subscribers. The Mouse is already trying to hide the fact that both Disney+ and Hulu continue to lose money by using ESPN+ revenue to bail them out, and is raising prices on all of its streaming services for the second year in a row. The company just released a quarterly report in which it does everything it can to reassure shareholders that it’s managing its money well, so what will happen when it has to reveal that it actually spent $5 billion more than it thought it needed to?

It’s unclear if Disney has any legal means to back out of its purchase of Hulu this late in the game, but that’s unlikely. It’s far more likely that the Mouse will take further action to make its streaming services profitable. That means it will continue to hike subscription prices as consumers find acceptable, and will continue to remove more and more TV shows and movies from its schedules to cut costs. If Disney is forced to pay even more for Hulu, subscribers will lose money and content accordingly.

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