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Disney says Hulu with Live TV lost 100,000 subscribers

Hulu with Live TV. (Photo: Handout)

The Walt Disney Company affirmed this week that its premium live-streaming television service Hulu with Live TV lost subscribers during its most-recent quarter.

On Wednesday, the company said Hulu with Live TV currently has 4 million subscribers, making it one of the more-popular streaming cable television alternatives in the domestic market.

But the number reflected a loss of 100,000 subscribers compared to the previous quarter, when Disney said Hulu with Live TV had 4.1 million paying customers.

Hulu with Live TV collates a number of popular broadcast, cable and streaming linear networks through the same app as its video on-demand service, but at a cost of $70 a month. A version that offers commercial-free access to Hulu’s video-on demand service costs $76 a month.

The premium linear TV service offers access to broadcast, cable and streaming linear channels from the Walt Disney Company (ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC, FX, Freeform), Fox Corporation (Fox, FS1, FS2, Fox News, Fox Business), Warner Bros Discovery (CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet), Paramount Global (CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land), Comcast’s NBC Universal (NBC, MSNBC, USA, Bravo) and others.

The standalone video on-demand version of Hulu grew during Disney’s most-recent financial quarter to end the three-month period with 42.2 million subscribers, an increase from 41.4 million the previous quarter. The service added 3 million streaming subscribers compared to the previous year, according to data released by the company.

Disney’s other streaming initiatives fared well, with its flagship streaming service Disney Plus drawing 152.1 million global streaming subscribers, up from 137.7 million the previous quarter and an increase of over 36 million customer accounts compared to last year.

The sports-centric streaming service ESPN Plus also grew, with more than 22.8 million customers taking advantage of the service despite a forthcoming 40 percent price increase. Later this month, the cost of an ESPN Plus subscription will jump to $10 a month; currently, it costs $7 a month.

Disney offers a bundle that incorporates all three of its domestic streaming services into one subscription plan, with the cost of the bundle starting at $14 a month.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

Email: [email protected] | Signal: 530-507-8380