Back in May, the president of FX, John Landgraf, said that the future of his network’s streaming efforts belonged on Hulu. And now, just a couple of months later, it would appear that is coming to fruition. At least, we think.
You see, FX is one of those cable networks that has released its own premium subscription service, dubbed FX+, which allowed viewers to watch the various series that the network offered without those pesky commercials. However, it was just announced today, via the official FX+ website, that the streaming service is shuttering on August 21, which is almost exactly a year after its launch. Why? Well, no reasons were given, but there are some strong theories.
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Of course, there’s always the chance that FX+ just didn’t have the right numbers and couldn’t sustain its own streaming business. This would make a little sense when you look at the streaming landscape and the fact that customers are asked to purchase a half-dozen or more services each month. Compared to the library offered by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, FX+ just really can’t compete.
That being said, the prevailing theory is that Landgraf was forecasting the change in streaming back in May and that we’ll likely see FX show up as a bundled network on Hulu. This makes a lot of sense considering the recent Fox/Disney merger, which left Disney in control of the major streaming service. There were also rumors that Disney is looking to package its own Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu+ as one big streaming bundle. Having FX along for the ride would be an added bonus for subscribers.
Disney+ isn’t expected to launch until November, so we could be looking at any changes to Hulu’s streaming service to take effect by then. So, while customers won’t have a chance to stream FX series without commercials post-August, there’s a pretty big chance that those subscribers will get the chance to do so in the near future.
