Who will control Hulu after the acquisition of Comcast by Sky?

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The highly anticipated

Sky
the auction is over and

Comcast
has won (at least temporarily), the deal has yet to be approved by Sky's shareholder.) This is not a huge surprise, as most are betting on Comcast to do whatever it takes to win. It may not appeal to their shareholders – the final price being quite high – but CEO Brian Roberts justifies it as a current pain for future gain.

There are a lot of positives for Comcast in this win. Sky has a strong presence in Europe, with outlets in the UK, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Spain, as well as English Premier League (NFL + NBA) rights, Now TV, a distributor of virtual multichannel video programming and a free wifi service called Cloud.

For anyone who dreams of taking

Netflix
, having a presence abroad is a must, and Sky gives Comcast a major presence abroad with a way to potentially distribute all the NBCU content that they own.

So, that's the good side. The potential disadvantage is that satellite service providers have not been on the rise, at least not in the US, where Dish has eliminated its subscribers faster than other MVPDs and

AT & T
seems to want to transfer its Direct TV subscribers to its DirecTV Now vMVPD service.

Satellite transmissions still face weather problems, aesthetic problems (rooftop dishes) and, most importantly, do not offer a broadband service to create adhesives via a double or triple play package. All this seems less problematic in Europe, where competition between several broadband providers, combined with stricter government regulations, keeps price competitiveness, but it nevertheless remains a cloud in the US. # 39; horizon.

There is also this damn 39% of Sky who

Fox
/ Disney still owns, that many analysts are betting that Disney will sell to Comcast to help recover all the money they ended up spending on Fox. (Disney paid $ 71.2 billion for Fox, much more than its initial offer of $ 52.4 billion.)

And then there is Hulu.

The Hulu Conundrum

Hulu belongs to three different parts. Disney owns 60% (30% for Fox), Comcast 30% and AT & T (via

Time Warner
) owns 10%.

The seemingly logical game would be that Disney buys Comcast and AT & T and uses Hulu as the basis for their next market-oriented application of 18+, also incorporating ESPN + to create a more appealing offer.

That's what many of us thought would happen, but then Bob Iger said no, the two OTT apps (kids and adults) that Disney was developing would be separate from Hulu and ESPN +. consider grouping some of them together.

This statement has baffled many of us because it is not clear what will be the differentiating factor between Hulu and the adult Disney app. Will Hulu, as some have suggested, will be the home of off-brand shows for Disney, as The servant's tale and a lot of FX's current programming? (for example., Mayans M.C.Will there be a way for Disney to enter the vMVPD game (Hulu Live TV already has over a million subscribers, including myself) and use it as part of a bundle with the new OTT and ESPN + applications?

May be.

It's just that all these possibilities are similar to Disney's, which is to find a way to make lemonade lemons rather than a plan they themselves would have designed.

The Comcast angle

That's why the opposite solution makes a lot more sense. Disney already has two OTT app products to discover (three if you count ESPN +) bComcast does not have one. TThey desperately need it, considering the advance that CBS and Disney have on them in this department. Hulu could be this app.

NBCU has a lot of content because NBCU has a lot of networks. (What they are really entitled to is another story, but for the purposes of this argument, suppose they have rights to much of what they show.) SyFy, Oxygen, Bravo, Telemundo, USA Network and Cloo are all NBCU channels, with CNBC, MSNBC, NBC and NBC Sports. Then there's Universal Kids (formerly Sprout) and, of course, Universal Pictures, which also includes DreamWorks.

This is a very varied programming in which Hulu can draw inspiration, especially if it is associated with Hulu Live TV.

And that's not even the main reason why Hulu has so much meaning for Comcast.

No, the main reason is that Comcast is one of the top broadband Internet providers in the country with more than 25 million customers.

Combine this base with a solid offer of vMVPD (and Hulu Live TV is very solid), install dual play packages (TV + broadband) to increase rigidity, with high quality original programming like Tale of maid and stone castle, and you have what could be a very winning combination.

The kind of very winning combination that you could, if you wanted, move to Europe and combine with Now TV (Sky's existing vMVPD) to create an even stronger offer. One that could offer a real challenge to Netflix.

So there is all this, and it's very interesting, especially if you have global ambitions.

So the real question is, where does Disney's mind stand on this equation? Do they think that leaving Comcast to Hulu could turn them into a serious threat? Or do they think that allowing Comcast to pay billions for Hulu could seriously help solve their cash flow problems?

Either is possible, with a combination of both, but Hulu's ultimate destiny will be the last and most important of all the most important and unpredictable stories in the industry.

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The highly anticipated

Sky
the auction is over and

Comcast
has won (at least temporarily), the deal has yet to be approved by Sky's shareholder.) This is not a huge surprise, as most are betting on Comcast to do whatever it takes to win. It may not appeal to their shareholders – the final price being quite high – but CEO Brian Roberts justifies it as a current pain for future gain.

There are a lot of positives for Comcast in this win. Sky has a strong presence in Europe, with outlets in the UK, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Spain, as well as English Premier League (NFL + NBA) rights, Now TV, a distributor of virtual multichannel video programming and a free wifi service called Cloud.

For anyone who dreams of taking

Netflix
, having a presence abroad is a must, and Sky gives Comcast a major presence abroad with a way to potentially distribute all the NBCU content that they own.

So, that's the good side. The potential disadvantage is that satellite service providers have not been on the rise, at least not in the US, where Dish has eliminated its subscribers faster than other MVPDs and

AT & T
seems to want to transfer its Direct TV subscribers to its DirecTV Now vMVPD service.

Satellite transmissions still face weather problems, aesthetic problems (rooftop dishes) and, most importantly, do not offer a broadband service to create adhesives via a double or triple play package. All this seems less problematic in Europe, where competition between several broadband providers, combined with stricter government regulations, keeps price competitiveness, but it nevertheless remains a cloud in the US. # 39; horizon.

There is also this damn 39% of Sky who

Fox
/ Disney still owns, that many analysts are betting that Disney will sell to Comcast to help recover all the money they ended up spending on Fox. (Disney paid $ 71.2 billion for Fox, much more than its initial offer of $ 52.4 billion.)

And then there is Hulu.

The Hulu Conundrum

Hulu belongs to three different parts. Disney owns 60% (30% for Fox), Comcast 30% and AT & T (via

Time Warner
) owns 10%.

The seemingly logical game would be that Disney buys Comcast and AT & T and uses Hulu as the basis for their next market-oriented application of 18+, also incorporating ESPN + to create a more appealing offer.

That's what many of us thought would happen, but then Bob Iger said no, the two OTT apps (kids and adults) that Disney was developing would be separate from Hulu and ESPN +. consider grouping some of them together.

This statement has baffled many of us because it is not clear what will be the differentiating factor between Hulu and the adult Disney app. Will Hulu, as some have suggested, will be the home of off-brand shows for Disney, as The servant's tale and a lot of FX's current programming? (for example., Mayans M.C.Will there be a way for Disney to enter the vMVPD game (Hulu Live TV already has over a million subscribers, including myself) and use it as part of a bundle with the new OTT and ESPN + applications?

May be.

It's just that all these possibilities are similar to Disney's, which is to find a way to make lemonade lemons rather than a plan they themselves would have designed.

The Comcast angle

That's why the opposite solution makes a lot more sense. Disney already has two OTT app products to discover (three if you count ESPN +) bComcast does not have one. TThey desperately need it, considering the advance that CBS and Disney have on them in this department. Hulu could be this app.

NBCU has a lot of content because NBCU has a lot of networks. (What they are really entitled to is another story, but for the purposes of this argument, suppose they have rights to much of what they show.) SyFy, Oxygen, Bravo, Telemundo, USA Network and Cloo are all NBCU channels, with CNBC, MSNBC, NBC and NBC Sports. Then there's Universal Kids (formerly Sprout) and, of course, Universal Pictures, which also includes DreamWorks.

This is a very varied programming in which Hulu can draw inspiration, especially if it is associated with Hulu Live TV.

And that's not even the main reason why Hulu has so much meaning for Comcast.

No, the main reason is that Comcast is one of the top broadband Internet providers in the country with more than 25 million customers.

Combine this base with a solid offer of vMVPD (and Hulu Live TV is very solid), install dual play packages (TV + broadband) to increase rigidity, with high quality original programming like Tale of maid and stone castle, and you have what could be a very winning combination.

The kind of very winning combination that you could, if you wanted, move to Europe and combine with Now TV (Sky's existing vMVPD) to create an even stronger offer. One that could offer a real challenge to Netflix.

So there is all this, and it's very interesting, especially if you have global ambitions.

So the real question is, where does Disney's mind stand on this equation? Do they think that leaving Comcast to Hulu could turn them into a serious threat? Or do they think that allowing Comcast to pay billions for Hulu could seriously help solve their cash flow problems?

Either is possible, with a combination of both, but Hulu's ultimate destiny will be the last and most important of all the most important and unpredictable stories in the industry.