The New Disney+ and Hulu App Sounds Like an Absolute Mess

Call me crazy, but when I want to relax and watch some TV, I want that experience to be as smooth and painless as possible. That was the one benefit of cable TV. Sure, you couldn’t watch whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. But at least it didn’t feel like asking if pickles cost extra from a drive-through menu. Now it’s nearly impossible to find what you want to watch on any given night—and downright out of the question to figure out what company you need to pay to see it.

Case in point? Today’s announcement from Disney. The company finally plans to fully integrate Hulu into the Disney+ app, which sounds like the natural next step after it acquired full ownership of Hulu earlier this year. However, Disney plans to go about this great bundling in the most confusing way imaginable.

“A new ‘unified’ Disney+ and Hulu streaming app will be available in 2026,” Variety reported Wednesday morning. Translated: The stand-alone Hulu app will shut down. You might think that this makes sense. You can already watch Hulu shows like The Bear and Shōgun on Disney+ if you have both subscriptions, so let’s just cut out the middleman. I can pay one subscription for one service now, right?!

Wrong. “According to a Disney rep,” Variety continued, “customers will still be able to buy a stand-alone Hulu subscription (as well as a stand-alone Disney+ plan).” So Disney+ shows and Hulu shows are still considered separate entities.

Huh? Will The Bear season 5 advertise as The Bear on FX on Hulu on the Disney+ App with Hulu? Madness. And what about Hulu + Live TV or the ESPN+ bundle? Isn’t the sports company launching its own stand-alone service as well?

Yes, and that’s even more confusing! Disney also announced that a new ESPN stand-alone service will launch August 21 at $29.99/month. The new service will grant viewers access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN on ABC, ESPN3, ESPN+, and more. ESPN+ will remain available as a single subscription service at $11.99/month, while ESPN will also remain part of the Hulu + Live TV package. In fact, most Hulu + Live TV subscribers probably don’t even know that they already have access to Disney+ and ESPN+ as part of their subscription anyway.

What’s next? Paying extra per episode?