In a media landscape brimming with content to watch, content is becoming increasingly more difficult to watch. Ironic, isn't it? Over the past year or so, streaming platforms such as Max and Paramount+ have removed a plethora of television shows from their libraries, and Hulu is the latest service to jump on the teetering bandwagon. Deadline recently announced that Hulu will remove more shows from its site, including The Company You Keep, Alaska Daily, and more, effective July 1.
Per the report, the new round of removals comes as Disney aims to implement cost-cutting measures, but the newest round of Hulu purging comes with another big catch: any show cancelled after one season can say goodbye to its streaming home, hence the removal The Company You Keep and Alaska Daily. The shows were originally planned to remain on the streamer at least until September. Additionally, the new strategy may potentially affect any specials. The streamer also isn't pulling punches with shows that managed to gain renewals, with plans to remove NBC's Angie Tribeca, NBC's Blindspotting, TNT's The Last Ship, and TBS' The Detour. While the NBC shows still have Peacock to fall back on, the streaming deals for all four shows weren't due to expire until 2024 at the earliest.
The latest purge follows as part of the company's recent merger between Hulu and Disney+. Additionally, Disney+ lost more than two million subscribers, acting as another source of motivation for Disney to spend less moving forward. As such, Hulu and Disney+ began an early round of removals. On Hulu's end, Y: The Last Man, Little Demon (which still has yet to be officially renewed or cancelled), Dollface, The Hot Zone, Maggie, Darby and the Dead, and Pistol, among others, were removed. Disney+ removed Willow, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch (remake), and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, among others.
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Content Purges Do More Harm Than Good
Despite whatever tax benefit streamers gain from removing content, they continue to destroy any faith that was instilled with creators and general audiences alike. Massive purges such as the ones at Max cause creators to lose out on more eyes viewing their work, which can affect future opportunities (and it's just outright disrespectful). On the viewer side of things, streamers will continue bleeding subscribers as fan favorite shows are unceremoniously pulled from streamers. The continued removals and steadily decreasing libraries of content -- original and otherwise -- provide little incentive for people to start or renew subscriptions.
