HULU Expands Childrens Programming Inking Licensing Deal With Disney-ABC Television Group

Hulu is pushing to be a go-to source for children's television programming through a new deal it just inked with The Disney - ABC Television Group which will make full prior seasons of top rated kids titles from Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD available through the online video streaming service.  Hulu niche has been providing its subscribers with access to the current season of shows from 5 of the 6 largest U.S. broadcast networks but is also bolstering its available library of past seasons of TV shows and original programming like The Mindy Project and the Golden Globe nominated comedy series Casual.  A subscription to Hulu is $7.99 per month with limited commercials or commercial free for $11.99.

The new agreement with The Disney-ABC Television Group makes Hulu the exclusive subscription video-on-demand home for all of the past seasons of  several popular shows that appeal to children, tweens, and teens including Disney XD's highly rated animated series Gravity Falls and Star vs. The Force of Evil plus the Disney Channel's live action shows K.C. Undercover, Austin & Ally and Dog With A Blog.  Additionally, the agreement provides Hulu with exclusivity for the Disney Junior shows Sheriff Callie's Wild West and Henry Hugglemonster which appeal to preschool audiences.  These shows join Doc McStuffins and Bunnytown from Disney Junior which Hulu had previously obtained exclusive rights to stream.

In addition to adding more than 500 episodes of kid friendly programming this deal also provides 20 Disney Channel Original Movies that will be available to stream on Hulu for the first time ever.  Other recent efforts by Hulu to bolster its children's programming lineup have included recent deals to obtain exclusivity for Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Penguins of Madagascar and PBS Kids Curious George.  They've also created a special Kids Portal for their children's programming so that kids can watch it commercial free even if your family is on the basic $7.99 per month plan.  The streaming service also has a Kids Lock feature which restricts viewing to only shows designated as children's programming which can be triggered on your TV, PC, or mobile devices.  Between an expanded library of content and commercial-free children's programming, Hulu is doubling down on attracting parents and their kids to tune in with them.

For more information, visit Hulu.com
 

Disney Channel's "Out of this World" Weekend

Friday, July 25th through Sunday the 27th will be "Out of this World" as the DISNEY CHANNEL features a weekend filled with SciFi themed programming.  The Disney Channel's "Out of this World" promo will be showcase the premiere of PHINEAS & FERB: STAR WARS and also feature a lineup of shows that feature scripts revolving around aliens, outer space and science fiction inspired topics.  You know I am going to be popping a big bowl of popcorn and watching these shows throughout that weekend with my kids!

PHINEAS & FERB: STAR WARS will be on Saturday, July 26, 2014 at 9pm and is a one hour television special that is a comedic mashup of the Disney Channels popular animated television show, Phineas and Ferb, with the Star Wars universe.  The story involves Phineas and Ferb living just one moisture farm over from a guy named Luke Skywalker on the planet Tatooine.  When R2-D2 and the Death Star plans inadvertently fall into THEIR landspeeder comedic adventures ensue.  Meanwhile chaos erupts on the Death Star when Perry the Rebelpus is trapped in carbonite while trying to stop Darthenshmirtz from using his new "Sith-inator."

Disney Channel will also be airing an episode of THE NEW YODA CHRONICLES during its "Out of this World" Weekend.  The NEW YODA CHRONICLES is in the middle of a new 5 episode arc in which it has already shown episodes 1 & 2 in May and June respectively.  I'm not sure if episode 3 is going to air during this weekend but based on the gap between the last 2 episodes it would fit.  There hasn't been a lot of info about the NEW YODA CHRONICLES tie in to the "Out of this World" promo - it is called "New" because the previous story arc ran on Cartoon Network and these "new" episodes which feature an imaginative and amusing combination of Star Wars characters and scenarios with LEGO building blocks - other than it is included in the trailer that the Disney Channel is currently airing to promote the event.  Hopefully they will show a brand new episode ... and wouldn't it be great if they showed the whole story arc up to now with all three episode during this themed weekend event.  That combined with PHINEAS & FERB: STAR WARS would be spectacular!

Here's a trailer for THE NEW YODA CHRONICLES: Episode 2 "Race for the Holocrons" which aired in the Disney Channel & DisneyXD (DisneyXD is aimed at tweens, teens & young adults and is considered a competitor with Cartoon Network - one of the reasons Disney pulled Yoda Chronicles and Star Wars: Clone Wars from that cable channel). 

As a long-time Star Wars fan, I have to say it is really nice that Disney has embraced the traditional trilogy and is pretty much ignoring the prequel movies since it took over the license.  You'll notice that the Phineas & Ferb special and The New Yoda Chronicles (plus the upcoming Star Wars: Rebels animated television series are all tied to the original Star Wars movies versus the prequels.  In fact from Disney's new Star Wars projects and marketing for the upcoming movie Episode VII you'd almost forget the Prequel movies ever existed.  Hopefully that is a strategy that will continue!

In addition to the Star Wars programming for Disney Channel's "Out of this World" Weekend, the network will also be showing a number of episodes of their own original series with scripts tied to this theme.

According to the Disney Channel the "Out of this World" lineup will also include:

Jessie “Spaced Out” 
Ravi’s birthday present from his parents is a trip to outer space with the rest of the Ross kids and Jessie. Their trip takes an unexpected turn when Ravi ends up not going.
Guest starring John Rubinstein as Ivan

Dog With A Blog “Pod People from Pasadena”
Avery learns she’s been selected to create a float for her town’s parade and is excited to spend some quality time with her father to build it. Meanwhile, Chloe watches a sci-fi movie that leads her to believe her family is being taken over by aliens and that the parade float they are constructing is really a spaceship.

Liv and Maddie “Space-Werewolf-A-Rooney”
To prove to the skeptics that she is meant to star in “Space Warewolves,” Liv agrees to do all her own stunts, not realizing exactly how complicated they are.
Guest starring Garry Marshall as Vic Defazerelli and Mimi Drew as Whitney

I Didn’t Do It “Earth Boys are Icky”
Delia is convinced boys on earth are too ordinary for her and creates a strange device, partly developed by NASA, to communicate with outer space and attract an extraterrestrial boyfriend. Meanwhile, Logan finds himself in an even weirder relationship when he discovers his new girlfriend Danica is the vice principal’s daughter.
Guest starring Savannah Lathem as Danica

 Austin & Ally “Eggs & Extraterrestrials”

When Dez, Trish and Austin convince Ally to attend the annual Zaliens Convention that’s being held in Miami, Trish and Dez happen to stumble upon real Zaliens and the foursome must devise a plan to survive.

Additionally, there will be a brand new episode of "Girl Meets World" running during this weekend promo but the only connection I see to the theme based on the script for that episode is the word "World" in the show's title?  All of the Disney Channel episodes mentioned in this post are rated G.