Disney Names Joe Earley New Head of Disney+ and Hulu

Michael Paull, who had overseen Disney’s streaming operations since 2017, is leaving, the company said. Mr. Paull didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Disney’s streaming operations are under scrutiny from Chief Executive Officer

Robert Iger,

who has expressed concern about how much is spent on content. 

“We have to better rationalize our costs,” Mr. Iger said at a Morgan Stanley conference last month. He is looking at raising the price that Disney charges for Disney+, even at the risk of turning off customers. 

“Obviously we have to attract more subs, but I think one of the key things we have to figure out is a pricing strategy that makes sense,” he said. 

The future of Hulu is up in the air. Disney owns two-thirds of the platform, with

Comcast Corp.

owning the rest. Under the terms of their partnership, either party has the right to force a sale of Hulu to its partner early next year. 

Some Wall Street analysts have questioned whether Hulu is a good long-term fit for Disney. Mr. Iger has said the company is studying its options.

“The environment is very, very tricky right now, and before we make any big decisions about our level of investment, our commitment to that business, we want to understand where it could go,” Mr. Iger said last month. 

Mr. Paull’s departure had been expected after Mr. Iger returned as chief executive late last year and restructured the company’s streaming businesses, a move that took away some of the autonomy Mr. Paull previously had under Mr. Iger’s predecessor, Bob Chapek. Mr. Paull had played a key role in Disney’s entry into the streaming space. 

Mr. Earley, in his role as head of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment, will focus on expanding the reach of the Disney+ and Hulu platforms and work closely with the programming teams that make content for the two services as well as the marketing and technology for the platforms, the company said. He will report to Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment.

Before joining Disney in 2019, Mr. Earley spent the bulk of his career at Fox Broadcasting, rising from publicity and talent management to chief operating officer for the Fox Television Group. While there, he worked closely with Ms. Walden, who was a senior executive at Fox before joining Disney after it acquired the bulk of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019.

Write to Joe Flint at [email protected]