assorted online sites; merchandising licensing cover- ing a wide range of product categories and licens- ing of Disney's wide-ranging intellectual property; motion picture production and distribution under the Walt Disney Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel, Lucasfilm. Pixar, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios banners, and direct-to-consumer stream- ing services which included Disney+. ESPN+. Hulu, and Hotstar. Starting in 2018. Disney made a series of strategic moves to strengthen its capabilities to enter the video streaming market by acquiring 100 percent control of streaming provider Hulu, which at the time had about 25 million subscribers in the United States. At the time, Hulu was a joint venture co-owned by Walt Disney (30 percent), Fox (30 percent). Comcast (30 percent), and Time Warner (10 percent), but Disney put a deal in place in late 2018 to buy Fox's 30 percent share of Hulu and then, months later. AT&T sold its 10 percent of Hulu to the Disney-Comcast owners of the Hulu joint venture for $1.43 billion. In May 2019, Comcast and Disney announced an agreement whereby Disney would have full 100-percent control of Hulu, starting immediately. The Disney-Comcast agreement speci- fied that Comcast would continue to allow Hulu to carry all NBCUniversal content as well as live-stream NBCUniversal channels for Hulu's live TV service The Walt Disney Company, until late 2024 (Comcast was the 100-percent owner Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ of NBCUniversal). The deal called for Comcast's ownership stake in Hulu to be officially sold to Disney The Walt Disney Company in 2020 was a leading starting in January 2024. diversified international family entertainment and Hulu's strategy for attracting subscribers had been to attract subscribers by charging a subscrip media enterprise with businesses that included the tion fee of $5.99 per month for regular stream- ABC branded broadcasting network; multiple cable ing (interspersed with ads) and $11.99 per month channels (the ESPN family of five domestic chan- for commercial-free streaming; new subscribers nels and 15 international channels, three domes- also got a one-month free trial. These two options entitled subscribers to watch current season epi- tic Disney branded channels and approximately sodes of popular TV shows (the day after they aired 100 Disney branded international channels, three on ABC, NBC, Fox, and a few cable channels-no FX channels, Freeform, National Geographic, and CBS shows were included) plus an estimated 43,000 50 percent ownership of A&E, which offered its back-season episodes of 1.650 TV shows and 2.500 movies. In addition, Hulu offered plans that included own entertainment programming and operated four not only its video streaming service, but also pack- other cable channels); ABC Studios, Twentieth ages that included 60+ live TV and cable channels Century Fox Television, and Fox 21 Television which (that included sports, news, and entertainment) for a produced many of the company's TV shows; theme monthly fee of $54.99 and options to add on HBO", parks and resorts; Disney Cruise Lines; the sale of Showtime". Starz , and Cinemax ". In March 2020, Disney launched FX on Hulu" that featured every Disney-related merchandise at The Disney Stores and season of many originals that aired on FX over thepast 17 years and that, going forward, would include new original scripted series by FX Productions shown exclusively to Hulu subscribers. In recent years, con- sumers disenchanted with the Further expansions are planned for Europe and Latin America in late 2020 through 2021, as Disney's existing international streaming distribution deals with competing services expire. Reaming prices of cable subscriptions had come to consider Hulu as their "go-to" choice, and it was widely considered the best streaming provider for watching TV shows. Nonetheless, Hulu had been a money-losing operation every year since its stream- ing service began operations in March 2008. Disney debuted its new Disney + streaming ser- vice on November 12. 2019. in the United States, Canada, and The Netherlands at low introductory prices of $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. A week later, Disney + was made available in Australia. New Zealand, and Puerto Rico and then further expanded to select European countries in March 2020. Additional expansions were planned for Europe and Latin America in late 2020 through 2021, as Disney's existing international streaming distribution licens- ing agreements with competing services expired. Disney + offerings centered on existing film and ESPN+ was a conglomeration of live sports programs television content from Walt Disney Studios (include ( select live MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and Canadian ing the Star Wars series), the three Disney TV chan- nels, Pixar, Marvel, National Geographic, and 20th Football League games, as well as multiple college Century Fox, plus forthcoming new original content sports games, PGA golf events, Top Rank Boxing from these same sources. Disney's longstanding repu- matches, Grand Slam tennis matches, United tation for family entertainment attracted an unexpect- Soccer League games, cricket and rugby games, edly large rush of new subscribers in the first three English Football League games, and UEFA Nations months-50 million worldwide as of April 10, 2020. League games that were not broadcast live on any of This big subscription gain was partly due to the fact that, due to a deal between Disney and Verizon. ESPN's family of channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, whereby certain Verizon subscribers could sign up for ESPN Classic, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, Longhorn a free one-year subscription to Disney + until June 1. Network, SEC Network, and ACC Network). ESPN+ 2020, if they agreed that when the free 12-month sub- was only available to viewers in the United States; the scription expired their Disney+ subscription would regular subscription fee for ESPN+ was $49.99 per year auto-renew at $6.99 per month, and they would be charged monthly on their Verizon bill unless the sub- or $4.99 per month. ESPN+ had 7.6 million subscribe scription was cancelled with Verizon. The 50 million ers in the United States as of February 2020, up from number also included 8 million subscribers in India 3.5 million paying subscribers in November 2019-the who were able to access Disney + through Hotstar, a big increase was mainly due to the bundling promotion. streaming service owned by Disney. Disney management expected to have between Concurrent with the launch of Disney+ in 60 and 90 million Disney+ subscribers worldwide November 2019, Disney began offering a bundle of Disney+. (ad supported) Hulu, and ESPN+ for by 2024-the same year it believed the service would $12.99 per month with no free trial included at both become profitable. The majority of those subscribers the Disney + and Hulu websites in the United States. were forecast to be outside the United States