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Hulu targeting 2021 for international rollout, says Disney CEO

Hulu targeting 2021 for international rollout, says Disney CEO

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Discussions to bring Hulu global began in 2018

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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Disney+ might be Disney’s streaming priority right now, but rolling out Hulu to international markets is still a primary goal, with the company aiming for a 2021 date.

CEO Bob Iger said the international rollout on Hulu took a backseat to Disney+’s launch, but the company is still working on the deals and license agreements to bring Hulu to international markets. Iger said it’s likely that 2021 will be when international markets get Hulu, but that could always change. It’s unclear whether Disney will offer a version of the Disney+ bundle available to US subscribers, but it seems likely. On the international front, Disney also announced that Disney+ would launch in India on March 29th.

CEO Bob Iger said the international rollout on Hulu took a backseat to Disney+’s launch

Hulu’s generated quite a bit of news recently, starting with CEO Randy Freer announcing he was stepping down. The move comes in the wake of Disney announcing that Hulu leadership would now report to Disney’s direct-to-consumer division, which is overseen by Kevin Mayer. The goal with the reorganization is to help “rapidly grow our presence outside the US,” according to a company press release put out Friday. Iger and Disney executives first started talking about bringing Hulu to global markets in 2018, after the company secured majority ownership of the streaming service.

Expanding into European markets means the company will have to ensure that its content offering matches new impositions from European regulations. That means more original content for international foreign countries could be on the way, but it’ll take a little more time yet.