Excellent news for music fans who have also been thinking about cutting the cable TV cord: You can now get access to both Spotify Premium and Hulu in one bundle. Spotify just announced that U.S. subscribers to Spotify Premium will now have access to Hulu’s ad-supported plan at no additional cost with Spotify’s Premium With Hulu Offer. The deal kicks in on March 12 (that's, uh, today, if you’re keeping track); what’s more, it’s good for both new and existing Spotify Premium users on the $9.99-per-month plan. Don’t have a Spotify Premium account yet? Not a problem. Already have a Spotify Premium account? Also not a problem. The deal is only on offer until June 10, 2019 or as long as supplies last, though, so if you want to nab it, you’ll have to do so soon.
Hulu’s pricing plans currently work according to a tiered system. However, unlike many other streaming services, the ad-supported version isn’t free — rather, it’s the cheapest subscription you can get, coming in at $5.99 per month. The ad-free version is $11.99; an ad-supported plan with live TV jumps up to $44.99 per month; and ad-free Hulu plus live TV is $50.99. You can also pick from a ton of add-ons, including access to premium movie networks like HBO (an additional $14.99 per month) or Showtime ($10.99), enhanced cloud DVR ($9.99), and so on.
Spotify, meanwhile, isn’t exactly tiered — you can either access it for free with ads or via a paid Premium subscription with no ads — but there are a few different ways the Premium version can be acquired, which do come in at varying price points. Normally, Spotify Premium is $9.99 per month; however, if you get a family plan, up to six people can use the service for a total of $14.99 per month (or about $2.50 a head, if you max out the number of accounts covered by the plan). Meanwhile, if you’re a student enrolled at a U.S. college or university, you can get Spotify Premium for just $4.99 per month, courtesy of the student plan. The Spotify Premium service itself is the same, no matter how you pay for it — although notably, the student plan also includes access to ad-supported Hulu and to Showtime, which the others do not.
Until now, that is. The move is part of a bigger move to expand Spotify’s scope beyond just music, although it’s worth noting that you have to be on the $9.99-per-month Spotify Premium plan to take advantage of the deal (family and student plans aren’t eligible). Said Marc Hazan, Spotify’s Vice President Global Head of Premium Business Development, in a statement provided to Bustle, “Today is the first time that we’re offering a Hulu plan to the masses as part of their $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription. As we push towards making Spotify Premium a gateway to a bigger world of entertainment, we're fully committed to finding new ways to enhance the overall experience for our Premium users and this is just the beginning.”
There is, however, a lot of fine print with which you’ll want to familiarize yourself before jumping on the Premium With Hulu wagon. You can find all of it here, but of particular note is Section 2, which concerns the “Availability Of The Premium With Hulu Offer.” According to this section, the Spotify Premium plus Hulu combo is “valid while supplies last” and “shall cease automatically at, and no longer be available after, the end of the Campaign Period.” The “Campaign Period” is defined as “the period starting on the date this offer is first made available” (that is, March 12, 2019) and whichever of the following occurs first: the “maximum available number of Premium with Hulu Offers being redeemed”; the offer “being terminated early by Spotify”; or the “advertised expiry date of the Premium with Hulu Offer.” The subscription page for Premium With Hulu notes this expiry date as “open until June 10, 2019.”
What all of that communicates is that Premium With Hulu is a limited-time offer, not a permanent new plan. If you do manage to snag it, you’ll continue to have access to Hulu after the June 10 cutoff date — per the terms and conditions, “We will make available the Premium with Hulu Offer to eligible users on a monthly subscription basis until such a time as we may choose at our discretion. You will only have access to the Hulu Plan for as long as you are subscribed to this Premium with Hulu Offer” — but also note that “if Spotify ceases to make available this Premium with Hulu Offer, you will lose access to the Hulu Plan at the end of the then-current billing month.” You’ll continue to be a paying Spotify Premium user, though, and will continue to be charged whatever the going rate for Spotify Premium is at that time unless you cancel or change your subscription.
Even knowing all of that, though, it’s still a pretty fab deal; if accessing either Spotify without ads or Hulu with them has never quite felt worth it to you for the price of the service individually, the Spotify Premium With Hulu Offer might sweeten the pot a little. If you’re already a Spotify Premium user on an eligible plan, all you need to do to activate the Hulu part of the plan is head to the Your Services page in your Spotify account. If you’re new to Spotify Premium, you can sign up for the whole thing, including the Premium With Hulu Offer, here (the first 30 days are free, by the way). For all the nitty-gritty details of the deal, check out the terms and conditions page here.
