Hulu is an American subscription video on demand streaming service currently owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake.
On July 12, 2014, it was announced that all 17 Seasons of South Park would stream exclusively on Hulu's premium service, Hulu Plus, as part of a multi-year deal that would include next-day access to new episodes. It was one of the top ten shows on the platform and featured in advertising for the subscription service. As part of the deal, Hulu would also power advertising and South Park clips at the South Park Studios website.[1] Matt Stone and Trey Parker added at the Television Critics Association that they felt Hulu had a superior technical experience to the Viacom video player they had been using at the South Park website, and after finding they could not duplicate their player, they formed a partnership with Hulu, and felt it would "look the best and play the best" there.[2] The episodes had previously been available at the official website for free.
As the Hulu deal came to close, a bidding war ensued in which Hulu tried to compete with other streamers for the rights to South Park, should the price not become too astronomical.[3] However, HBO Max ultimately won the streaming rights to South Park instead. The Hulu deal ended on June 20, 2020, and the South Park library moved to the newly launched streaming service HBO Max two days later.
On Hulu, the episodes "Super Best Friends", "200", and "201" were not available for streaming due to the portrayal of Muhammad, though the Season Ten episodes "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" remained available.
The service was mentioned in "A Nightmare on Face Time" as one of the services various characters used to stream movies and shows, and was one of the services being offered by Nathan in "Basic Cable".
References[]
- ↑ It’s a South Park Summer!. South Park Studios.
- ↑ Is ‘South Park’ Leaving Hulu?. Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
- ↑ ‘South Park’ Nears $500 Million Deal for U.S. Streaming Rights. Bloomberg.