The Mouse Continues to absorb Hulu as CEO Steps Down

Randy Freer is stepping down from his role as Hulu CEO as Disney moves to consolidate its direct-to-consumer business under its own executives. Part of the decision to roll Hulu’s business operations into Disney’s direct-to-consumer division is to help “rapidly grow our presence outside the US,” according to a company press release put out Friday.

Disney hasn’t shied away from its plans to roll out Hulu in various international territories, along with its other streaming service, Disney+. The integration means Hulu executives will now report to Disney execs. Everything Hulu — and streaming-at-large — will now operate under Kevin Mayer, who heads up the division for Disney that includes Disney+, ESPN+, and now Hulu.  “I want to thank Randy for his leadership the last two years as CEO and for his collaboration the past several months to ensure an exceptionally bright future for Hulu,” Mayer said in a statement. “With the successful launch of Disney+, we are now focused on the benefits of scale within and across our portfolio of DTC businesses.”

Freer’s exit is one people in the industry saw coming. Disney’s direct-to-consumer division is centralized, giving executives within the division more control over their streaming businesses. And the push to fold Hulu into that department became inevitable after Disney fully acquired the streaming service in May 2019 by buying Comcast’s final stake.

Not to mention that following Disney’s acquisition, Hulu’s senior vice president of scripted content, Craig Erwich, stopped reporting to Freer and started reporting to Disney Television Studios chairman Dana Walden. FX president John Landgraf was given a portion of Hulu’s original programming slate, reporting to Fox executives now within Disney. Many of Hulu’s Marvel shows were cancelled as Marvel Studios took over Marvel Entertainment and its TV duties. Plus, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Hulu would soon run on the BAMTech platform, the same behind-the-scenes streaming tech that powers Disney+ and of which Disney acquired a majority stake in 2017. In essence, Disney took over everything.

Take a look at Jeph Loeb, who was once the head of all things Marvel television and has increasingly ceded control of comic-related projects after Disney+ launched. All Marvel series set to premiere on Disney+ are now overseen by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. As Disney began to cancel most of its Marvel series on Hulu, using Disney+ instead as the main platform for Marvel series that connected to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loeb started planning his departure from the company. In December 2019, Disney announced Marvel Entertainment (where Loeb worked) would fold into Feige’s Marvel Studios.

Hulu is a big investment for Disney, and one that the House of Mouse has already begun reshaping following its total acquisitions of Hulu and 21st Century Fox. Iger told investors last year that the company plans to launch a dedicated FX hub on Hulu and turn some of FX’s content into streaming exclusives beginning in March 2020. The idea is to bring some of FX’s dedicated customer base over to Hulu, and use prestigious series to draw in even more subscribers.

FX is one of the most prestigious networks, often considered in the same league as HBO. Known for absurdist comedies and groundbreaking dramas, FX has won 57 Emmys since 2014 and won more Golden Globes than HBO, Netflix and Amazon Prime in that same time for shows like American Crime Story, Pose, Fargo, and The Americans. Having FX content exclusively on Hulu will give the streaming service a level of prestige it does not currently have.

As part of the arrangement, four upcoming FX series, including Ex Machine director Alex Garland’s new series Devs, won’t air on FX at all, but exist as Hulu exclusives instead. “FX on Hulu,” as it’s being referred to, also means most current and all-new FX series will be available to watch on Hulu immediately following the show’s airing.

It’s not just FX that Disney is looking to take advantage of with Hulu. Iger also suggested on the same investors call that Hulu will also use Fox’s most prestigious studio division, Searchlight Pictures (formerly known as Fox Searchlight), to make exclusive content for Hulu. Searchlight Pictures will continue to make films for theatrical release, but other projects will now become streaming exclusives.

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