Effective today, Hulu is now under the full control of the Walt Disney Company, ending a decade of a sometimes-uneasy partnership between rivals NBC-Universal, 21st Century Fox, Disney-ABC and Time Warner (Entertainment).

This morning, Disney and Comcast, the last two partners in the streaming venture, reached an agreement that will give full operational control of Hulu to Disney, in return for either company having the right to force Disney to buy out Comcast’s remaining 33% interest in the service beginning in 2024. In effect, with Comcast giving up its three seats on Hulu’s board and its veto power, the cable company now becomes a passive partner in the venture. At a Disney-guaranteed value of at least $27.5 billion five years from now, Comcast could eventually walk away from Hulu with at least $9 billion in compensation.

Today’s agreement means Disney will own and control multiple streaming services. Disney today announced it has big plans for Hulu, despite preparing to launch its own Disney+ streaming service and already operating its own streaming platform for ESPN. Disney CEO Robert Iger said Disney+ will now be focused on kids and family-friendly entertainment, while Hulu will be Disney’s platform for adult-focused movies and series. Disney’s recent acquisition of the 20th Century Fox content library and FX’s suite of cable channels gives it plenty of additional content to bring to both of its general entertainment streaming services.

To make sure of a smooth transition, both companies have agreed to a lucrative extension of Hulu’s license to stream NBC-Universal content and networks, as well as a retransmission consent agreement to allow Hulu Live to continue carrying NBC-Universal networks and TV channels until the end of 2024. That will deliver a significant revenue boost to Comcast, which can use the money to help build its own forthcoming streaming platform, launching in 2020.

“We are now able to completely integrate Hulu into our direct-to-consumer business and leverage the full power of The Walt Disney Company’s brands and creative engines to make the service even more compelling and a greater value for consumers,” said Iger in a statement.

NBC-Universal chief executive Steve Burke said in a statement that the deal is “a perfect outcome for us” because the “extension of the content-licensing agreement will generate significant cash flow for us, while giving us maximum flexibility to program and distribute to our own direct-to-consumer platform.”

For consumers, Iger is expected to consider offering a discounted bundled package to Hulu subscribers who also sign up for Disney+. With a combination of Hulu and Disney+, Netflix’s biggest U.S. rival is about to get considerably bigger.

Apple today released a software update for iOS device owners and some smart televisions that includes a new Apple TV streaming app designed to simplify the online streaming experience. This enhancement highlights the growing demand for innovative solutions in the tech industry, making it a great time to connect with an iOS app developer like the ios app developer sydney who can help bring unique app ideas to life.

The Apple TV app works similarly to Roku’s collection of subscription services. Through the app, viewers in 100 countries can subscribe to individual networks and access them without launching multiple separate apps to watch. Apple TV app also manages billing and collects viewing interests to provide recommended new shows and movies.

At present, most premium channels are available through the app for subscription, but you will pay a non-discounted price for each service, often at a premium. HBO, for example, can be had for as little as $5 a month through some platforms, but costs $14.99 through Apple TV. Other services often run their own discounted specials, but Apple TV customers will not get that pricing. Cord Cutters News reports these networks were available for purchase as of this morning (others are being beta tested):

• HBO
• Showtime
• Starz
• Cinemax
• Epix
• Smithsonian Plus
• PBS Living
• Acorn TV
• Sundance Now
• Lifetime Movie Club
• Urban Movie Channel
• Tastemade
• Curiosity Stream
• MTV Hits
• Comedy Central Now

Apple TV is a precursor to the company’s more elaborate streaming and original content platform — Apple TV+ — expected to launch this fall. For now, Apple is taking a cut from reselling other companies’ content and wrapping it around its own interface. Some early subscribers report Apple TV subscribers get more generous multiple viewer allowances, and a large selection of live streams of certain networks like HBO that are not even available from HBO’s own app. Because finding content across a wide array of subscription services is becoming more complicated, users can also access a search utility to find favorite shows.

By developing its own ecosystem, Apple hopes to build an audience and subscriber loyalty by getting customers accustomed to visiting Apple TV to access their subscription content, which gives Apple an audience to sell other programming and content. In return, customers will not have to install multiple apps, or keep track of usernames and passwords for each of them.

Owners of recent Apple devices, as well as those with 2019 Samsung smart TVs (and some 2018 models) will find software updates including Apple TV starting today. Later this year, customers with certain Vizio, LG and Sony TVs will be able to use the TV app using AirPlay 2.

There are some caveats. Netflix is missing. The largest streaming provider in the world has made it clear it will not be a part of the Apple TV app. Also, only a handful of cable and streaming providers have signed on to allow customers to authenticate their TV subscriptions through the Apple TV app so far: Charter Spectrum, DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue.

Those looking for convenience might find the Roku or Apple TV platforms a good place to bring content from multiple services together, but those looking for the best price will save money shopping around for subscription deals not available from Apple TV.

Your cable or streaming TV bill will increase once again as Fox executives told cheering investors this morning it would hike prices for carrying Fox TV stations and its suite of cable networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business, Fox Sports 1 and 2, and the Big Ten Network.

“We plan to meaningfully accelerate growth of both direct retransmission and non-[owned and operated] revenue and we believe the broadcast economics we receive are quite underpriced relative to the quality of the content we are providing,” said Fox chief operating officer John Nallen, speaking at a Fox Investor Day event.

Fox’s contracts with most cable, satellite, and streaming providers are coming up for renewal over the next three years, and it should not surprise providers to see substantially higher renewal pricing than ever before to continue carrying Fox’s networks. Fox plans to leverage the increasing amount of live sports on its broadcast network and the relative popularity of Fox News Channel to demand higher compensation. Fox was already collecting 29% more in retransmission consent-related revenue during the third quarter, but that percentage is expected to grow dramatically as new contracts are signed.

Fox News is already the most costly cable news network, and as other broadcast TV networks demand ever greater compensation from cable and satellite providers, Fox executives feel they are not asking as much as they could for their channels. That is an important consideration for Fox, which slimmed down dramatically after a sale of most of its assets to Disney. The ‘new’ Fox is made up of the Fox television network, 28 owned and operated Fox affiliated TV stations, cable news and business, and three sports channels. Nallen sees no need to expand the network lineup further.

“We are no longer lending the potency of our marketing brands toward any other initiative, brand or channel development,” Nallen said. “The purity of this sustained value opportunity from our Fox brands is critical as we are not tethered to any properties that are just getting harder to defend. This frees us up to capture the full value of all our brands across broadcast and cable.”

Nallen knows some cable operators have grown increasingly disenchanted with selling television service, and acknowledged some cable companies may balk at Fox’s new asking price, especially as cord cutting continues to accelerate. He told investors he is technology agnostic about who he sells Fox networks to, so it would come as no surprise if a streaming TV service eventually breaks into the top four Fox channel distributors. At the same time, as prices continue to rise, some traditional cable operators could eventually stop selling television service altogether.

Discovery’s forthcoming streaming service will focus entirely on family-friendly factual, historical, and natural history content and will be sold for around $4.99 a month when it launches in 2020.

“There is really nobody in our space,” said Discovery CEO David Zaslav, talking to investors on a quarterly results conference call. “Discovery’s strategy is different than any other media company. While everyone else is focused on big and expensive movies and scripted series, very crowded space, we have a different approach. We have brand people identify with and love. We’re gaining distribution in all key bundles in the United States and around the world and enjoy a unique global footprint.”

With a decade long content deal with the BBC’s Natural History Unit in place, Zaslav told investors Discovery is about to flood North America with an unprecedented amount of factual, on-demand programming.

“The most strategic element of our BBC deal was securing all of the [streaming/video on demand] rights for the BBC’s library of factual landmark series and specials, a marvel like library for the factual and natural history genre,” Zaslav said. “Our ambition is to take that library along with the best of the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science libraries, together with additional exclusive original content […] in the genres of natural history, science, adventure, exploration, history, space and technology, and package it together into the definitive natural history and factual streaming platform in the world and take that above the globe.”

The top 10 service providers in the United States collectively lost over 1.25 million paid television customers in the first three months of 2019, providing further evidence that cord-cutting is accelerating.

Multiscreen Index estimates if that trend continues, an average of 14,000 Americans cancel their paid cable or satellite television service daily.

AT&T suffered the greatest losses, primarily from its satellite television service DirecTV. More than a half-million satellite customers canceled service in the first quarter of the year. AT&T lost another 89,000 streaming customers as news spread that the service was increasing prices and restricting generous promotions to attract new subscribers. DISH Network, DirecTV’s satellite competitor, also lost more than 250,000 customers.

Many cable television providers announced this quarter they would no longer fret about the loss of cable TV customers, and many have dropped retention efforts that included deeply discounted service. As a result, customers are finding it easier than ever to cancel service. Comcast lost 107,000 TV customers, while Charter Spectrum lost 152,000. Spectrum recently increased the price of its Broadcast TV Fee to $11.99 a month and has pulled back on promotions discounting television service.

“There were losses across the top 10 television services in the United States, with even the DirecTV Now online service losing customers following previous heavy promotion. Between them, they lost over one-and-a-quarter million subscribers in three months. They still command a significant number of customers but the rate of attrition has increased,” said Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index.

The total figures for the quarter show roughly 81.90 million Americans are still paying one of the top-10 providers for cable or satellite television service, amounting to less than 70% of television homes — a significant drop. Privately held Cox Communications is excluded because it does not report subscriber numbers or trends.