Time Warner could be joining Comcast, Disney and Fox as part-owner of popular streaming service Hulu.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Time Warner is pursuing a stake in Hulu as part of a deal that would value the service at more than $5 billion.
In order to allow four companies to hold an equal stake in Hulu, Comcast, Disney and Fox would have to reduce their current 33 percent ownership share.
The Time Warner deal would see the media company investing more money into Hulu and expanding its content licensing deal with the service. That could mean easier access for Hulu to Time Warner properties including Warner Bros-produced content for major broadcasters and channels including Cartoon Network, HBO, TBS, and TNT.
Interestingly, just last week Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said his company might hold back on offering early access to its DC Comics-based shows to streaming services including Hulu and Netflix. That would include shows like Gotham, Supergirl, Arrow and the Flash.
Hulu has been more aggressive in securing content to compete with Netflix. The service recently signed a deal with Epix, which moved a number of movie titles from Netflix over to Hulu.
Hulu has also become more active in producing original content and the service finally unveiled an ad-free tier.
