Could Hulu lose access to current-season TV shows?

While Time Warner Inc.is no longer directly connected with the cable giant of the same name, the company is plenty motivated to put an end to services like Hulu and its massive library of current-season shows, now also available commercial-free.

When Time Warner looks at Hulu, it sees – well, it’s not entirely clear what Time Warner sees.

One of the things that has allowed Hulu to compete in the streaming video subscription market is the fact that it offers users the ability to watch some now airing shows shortly after they’ve premiered on TV. DIS, +2.45%, 21st Century Fox and Comcast Corp. Under a two-year licensing deal, which expired in 2015, the owners were required to provide Hulu with the complete current seasons of all shows produced by in-house studios, which air on networks such as ABC, Fox and NBC, with very limited exceptions.

Along with acquiring the 25 percent stake, Time Warner has also demanded that episodes of current seasons be removed from their services. The company is apparently interested in making a large investment in Hulu, but the company doesn’t seem to show any interest in actually progressing the streaming media landscape. The agreement has been receiving short-term extensions during the interim as discussions drag out.

Several Wall Street analysts believe a significant part of Hulu’s value and appeal to consumers is tied to its current-season deals with its owners. It’s invested aggressively in content recently, and subscriptions are way up, growing from 6 million subscribers in 2014 to 10 million a year ago. That has helped reduce the service’s reliance on current-season episodes, which today account for less than 25% of streams on Hulu, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix has about 45 million U.S. users. Time Warner clearly has an appreciation for the popularity and utility of the service, but it also sees current-season streaming as a threat to the traditional pay-TV model. But the company understands that it would be hard for Hulu’s owners to pivot their strategy on current episodes overnight, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We’re evaluating whether to retain our rights for a longer period of time and forego or delay certain content licensing”, Time Warner Jeff Bewkes said in November.

Netflix may get all the headlines, but Hulu has always offered something the ‘Flix never has: next-day access to a wealth of popular TV shows.