Hulu Announced It's Removing Some Popular Shows From The Platforms

Coming hot on the heels of widespread show cancelations across streaming apps, Hulu just announced it’s following suit with Disney+ and not only canceling, but purging many popular shows from their streaming service, meaning customers can no longer access the shows despite them premiering on streaming.

Victims of the “purge” include Hulu‘s Y: The Last Man, Dollface, and The Hot Zone, along with Big Shot, Willow, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum over on Disney+.

Fans are apoplectic at the bizarre news, taking to Twitter to berate the apps for removing content that already premiered: “It’s a crime!”

Hulu Removing A Slew Of Original Series From App

Disney announced in early May that it would be removing several of the titles available for streaming on its services, Hulu and Disney+. Some of the popular original shows leaving Hulu include Future Man, starring Josh Hutcherson; Dollface, starring Kat Dennings; and Y: The Last Man, an adaptation of the acclaimed comic starring Diane Lane.

The latter debuted to relatively positive reviews and fan excitement, but was summarily canceled after only four episode and now, will be pulled from Hulu's app entirely. The show's creator, Eliza Clark, had some choice words for the streamer once the news broke:

Of the decision, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy stated, "We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation." Warner Bros. Discovery recently pulled a similar move, cutting a bunch of original series from HBO Max including The Time Traveler's Wife and The Nevers.

An industry insider told Deadline, "There’s billions of dollars that is sitting there in the Netflix library not doing a thing; shows come and go and then they just sit there. I think the one thing we’re all realizing as an industry is this whole idea that everything you produce, you could put it in one place forever and ever for $15 a month, it’s not possible to make a viable business there because the numbers don’t add up." The outlet goes on to speculate that the reason for removing titles from streaming may be for companies to gain "attractive write-downs" through the move.

Fans Protest: 'I Guess I Have To Go Back To Piracy'

The choice to cut shows from streaming on Hulu and Disney+ seems to be incredibly unpopular with subscribers, and many have taken to Twitter to protest the purgings:

For Disney's part, the megacorp has already reported a $1.5 "write down" after removing said content from Disney+ and Hulu, meaning the "purging" practice may be one we'll have to get used to as long as it's profitable.