“Grey’s Anatomy” Coming To Hulu & Hulu On Disney+
Last month, during the latest quarterly investor call, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed he had been in talks with Netflix about some licensing agreements, and today, it’s been revealed by Deadline, that Disney and Netflix have agreed to get shared access to one of the most popular shows, “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Following the release of the beta version of Hulu On Disney+ last week , Disney will share domestic streaming rights to the previous nineteen seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy”. The show will be available on Netflix, Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, in time for the official launch of Hulu On Disney+ in March.
The show is returning in March for its twentieth season, which will be a slightly shorter season due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes, which will give Hulu on Disney+ and the standalone Hulu access to every episode of the show.
While Hulu has had access to the latest season of “Grey’s Anatomy”, due to a long-standing contract, Netflix had the streaming rights for previous seasons. in the United States, and it’s one of the most watched shows, not just on Netflix, but across all platforms, since it regularly tops the Nielsen streaming chart. Internationally, “Grey’s Anatomy” is one of the most popular shows available on Disney+.
As part of the short-term domestic deal, Netflix will also get access to 14 popular shows from Disney’s studios for 18 months. These shows will continue to be available to stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, in addition to any third parties, including SVOD, AVOD or linear channels.
The shows included in this deal include (including their Netflix release dates):
- The Wonder Years: 1/1/2024
- This is Us: 1/8/2024
- My Wife & Kids: 2/5/2024
- ESPN 30 for 30: 25 episodes; premiere dates vary between from February to December
- The Resident: 3/4/2024
- White Collar: 4/1/2024
- Reba: 5/6/2024
- Archer: 5/13/2024
- How I Met You Mother: 6/3/2024
- Lost: 7/1/2024
- Prison Break: 7/29/2024
- The Hughleys: 9/2/2024
- The Bernie Mac Show: 1/1/2025
- Home Improvement: 2/1/2025
One of the shows included in this deal is “The Hughleys”, which will become available for the first time on streaming platforms, with both Netflix and Hulu getting them on the same day.
With the roll-out of Hulu on Disney+ scheduled for March, getting access to Disney’s most popular general entertainment show makes sense, in a similar way to how Disney secured a short-term deal to get access to Star Wars and Marvel titles before Disney+ launched in 2019. It also made a deal with Netflix to get back access to its Marvel shows including “Daredevil”.
Disney sharing access to a selection of older titles from ABC, FX and 20th Television isn’t likely going to cause any real issues, since many of them are also licensed out non-exclusively to other linear channels and streaming internationally.
Sharing access means little loss to Netflix, but also getting access to a selection of other shows is just a win-win for Disney and Netflix. Those older shows are less valuable to Disney, as they aren’t core brands and many of them weren’t even originally made by Disney’s studios.
What do you think of Disney and Netflix doing this deal? Let us know on social media!
Roger Palmer
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