If you thought cutting the cord and entering the age of streaming services would leave traditional cable channel bundling behind, it seems that two of the biggest entertainment giants have some news for you.
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have officially teamed up to release a “first of its kind” cross-service bundle that will combine Disney+, Hulu, and Max in a single package.
There’s no word on what this will ultimately cost, but it will presumably be affordable enough to make it a compelling choice compared to subscribing to the services individually — especially since it represents the return of locking folks into a bundle of services where they may ultimately not want to keep paying for all of them.
Of course, it’s not quite as bad as your cable provider offering you 100 channels of drivel to go along with the half-dozen that you actually watch, but it’s coming pretty close. As the press release notes, the bundle will offer content from “ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, Warner Bros., and many more.”
The first two services aren’t a huge surprise. Hulu has been fully owned by Disney since last year, and the House of Mouse moved quickly to bundle the two services, even releasing a new version of the Disney+ app that merged the two.
Of course, that’s conceptually no different than Apple offering Apple TV+ and Apple Music in an Apple One bundle or discounting MLB Season Pass subscriptions for Apple TV+ members.
Plenty of companies bundle their own services together. However, linking up with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring the home of Game of Thrones into the mix is a bold new move.
On the heels of the very successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will offer subscribers even more choice and value. This incredible new partnership puts subscribers first, giving them access to blockbuster films, originals, and three massive libraries featuring the very best brands and entertainment in streaming today.
Joe Earley, President, Direct to Consumer, Disney Entertainment
The bundle, which will include both ad-supported and ad-free versions, is expected to be available this summer. The two companies note that they’ll share “additional details” in the coming months, which means we should hear more soon. Once the bundle appears, customers will be able to subscribe from any one of the three services’ websites.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s arrangement with Disney isn’t entirely exclusive. Alongside Netflix, it also cut a deal with Verizon to offer a myPlan perk where customers of the mobile carrier can get ad-supported versions of both services for only $10 per month.
It’s also not the only front on which Disney and Warner have tied the knot. The two companies are partnering with Fox to launch a new sports app and streaming service this fall — a juggernaut that could make Apple’s future forays into live sports even more challenging.
Not wanting to be left out as streaming giants continue to pair up, Apple is said to be pursuing its own bundling arrangement with Paramount+. Although such talks are still in their early stages, offering a back catalog that Apple wouldn’t have to license directly could help sweeten the pot to draw more Apple TV+ subscribers in. It’s also a more symbiotic fit as Paramount+ is one of the few big-name streaming services that’s still a part of Apple TV Channels, which means its content is already set up to stream directly through Apple’s TV app.