Fubo & Hulu + Live TV Merger To Complete Earlier Than Expected
Earlier this year, Disney announced it was going to be combining its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo TV, with Disney taking a majority stake in Fubo.
The deal was made following a lengthy and expensive court case about the ill-fated brand-new sports streaming service called “Venu Sports”, which was initially designed to consolidate all of ESPN’s, Warner Bros. Discovery’s, and FOX’s sports content into a single platform.
Today, a new SEC filing has provided an update on the merger between Fubo and Hulu + Live TV, which was originally going to be completed in the first half of 2026. Now, Fubo expects to complete the deal by the end of the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2026. The direct-to-consumer version of Hulu will remain under Disney’s control.
Earlier this month, Disney finalised its purchase of Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, which may be why Disney is now able to accelerate the completion date of the merger of its Hulu + Live TV business into Fubo.
The combined business of Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will reportedly continue to operate under the Fubo brand and will be led by the existing Fubo management team. Under the agreement, Disney will own 70% of the combined businesses and is still subject to regulatory approvals, Fubo shareholder approval, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
This new report also reveals that the total revenue of the two companies is $1.56 billion, which breaks down as $1.12 billion from Hulu + Live TV and $416 million from Fubo. However, together they have operating expenses of $1.64 billion, which resulted in an operating loss of $85 million. This is why they believe that merging their businesses together, they can cut costs.
Roger’s Take: According to Disney’s press release, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will remain available to consumers as separate offerings. However, I suspect that eventually, the two services will merge as fewer people sign up for cable-lite services. This might also be a way for Disney+ and Hulu to eventually fully merge, allowing Disney to consolidate some of its apps together to save money.
Do you think the Fubo and Hulu + Live TV merger will happen before the end of the year? Let me know on social media!
