WASHINGTON — Hulu is about to begin cracking down on password and account sharing, following a similar move by Netflix.
The Disney-owned streaming service told subscribers in an e-mail Wednesday that it would ban sharing accounts with people outside their household starting March 14.
Hulu's user agreement, along with Disney+ and ESPN+, now explicitly bars users from sharing usernames and passwords with others.
"Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household," the updated subscriber agreements state. The streaming services defines "household" as "the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein."
According to the e-mail, the new Hulu terms take effect on March 14, 2024, for existing subscribers.
The user agreements for Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ were all last updated on Jan. 25, though it's unclear when the new language was added for latter two.
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger last year hinted that such a move was coming for Hulu and the company's other streaming services Disney+ and ESPN+. Last November, the company began cracking down on password-sharing for Disney+ subscribers in Canada.
When the monthly cost of ad-free Disney+ was raised last year, Iger acknowledged that the price hikes are intended to steer consumers toward cheaper ad-supported versions of these services, whose subscription prices are not changing.
Disney could shed more light on its plans to crackdown on password sharing during its upcoming earnings call on Wednesday, Feb. 7.
After Netflix launched a crackdown on password sharing, the streaming service saw a spike in subscribers even as it became more expensive to watch its lineup of TV shows and movies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
