Yahoo View and its free Hulu videos are being 'decommissioned'

After Hulu shut down the free version of its website in 2016, many of its videos moved over to Yahoo View, which continued to stream recent episodes of network TV shows for free. Now, Yahoo’s website also appears to be shutting down. A message at the top of the Yahoo View homepage says it will be “decommissioned” on June 30.

We’ve reached out to both Yahoo andHulu(whose branding appears throughout the Yahoo View site) for comment and will update if we hear back. In the meantime, we can speculate as to why Yahoo View might be shutting down: Verizon, which acquired Yahoo for $4.48 billion in 2017, isbacking away from the digital media businessto focus on wireless service. Meanwhile, Hulu has grown to more than 28 million subscribers,with a healthy ad business to boot, and is a key part ofDisney’s direct-to-consumer streaming strategy. Yahoo View never got much attention to begin with, and neither Verizon nor Hulu have good reasons to keep it alive now.

As for whoever was using Yahoo View, they’ll likely have to make do with visiting the individual sites and apps for ABC, NBC, and Fox, where many of the same recent episodes remain available for free.

Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the final deadline, June 7.

Sign up for Brands That Matter notifications here.

Yahoo View and its free Hulu videos are being ‘decommissioned’

Explore Topics