NBCUniversal Ends Content Sharing Deal With Hulu

NBCUniversal has terminated its content-sharing deal with Hulu as the company redirects its shows to its own, rival streaming service, Peacock, an NBCU spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Starting this fall, new episodes of NBCU shows like Saturday Night Live, The Voice and American Auto will no longer be available to stream on Hulu the day after they air. Hulu will still have access to other NBCU shows like Law & Order: SVU, This Is Us, The Mindy Project, 30 Rock, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights and Will & Grace.

“With the proliferation of streaming services entering the marketplace, we have long anticipated changes to our third-party content offering and over the past few years have increased our investment in original content,” a Hulu spokesperson said.

The end of NBCU and Hulu’s partnership comes as NBCU and parent company Comcast have sought to increase the number of paying subscribers to its struggling Peacock service. At the end of 2021, the service had 9 million paying subscribers out of a total of 24.5 million monthly active accounts.

The Wall Street Journal first reported in February that the content deal was nearing its end.

Since it launched in 2020, Peacock has shared much of NBCU’s catalog with Hulu. By pulling that content back, the shows will become exclusive to Peacock, potentially making Hulu less valuable to some subscribers and Peacock a more desirable option for others.

Comcast and Disney are in arbitration over Hulu, of which Comcast owns a 33 percent stake.

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