- Comcast Corp's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBCUniversal is nearing a plan that could drastically change its partnership with The Walt Disney Co's (NYSE:DIS) Hulu, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- NBCUniversal could end up shifting high-profile programming to its Peacock streaming platform under the plan.
- Comcast, which owns a third of Hulu, launched Peacock less than two years ago, while Disney, which owns the rest, introduced Disney+ in late 2019.
- Disney+ had nearly 130 million subscribers globally, while NBCU had over 9 million people were paying for Peacock.
- Peacock had 24.5 million monthly active accounts at the end of 2021 versus Disney at 129.8 million.
- Comcast is doubling its content spending for Peacock to $3 billion this year, even betting on a series of high-profile sporting events. Comcast looks to increase its domestic content spending to $5 billion for Peacock.
- This year, NBCUniversal aims most Universal movies available for streaming on Peacock as soon as 45 days after their theatrical release.
- NBCUniversal has until February 11 to inform Disney of its plans as both sides continue to negotiate the deal.
- If NBCUniversal chose to ditch the plan, they would remain on Hulu through 2024.
- Removing some NBC content could lessen the value of NBCUniversal's stake in Hulu when it attempts to negotiate a valuation.
- Price Action: CMCSA shares closed lower by 1.74% at $48.92 on Thursday.
