Disney+ and Hulu’s removal of content from their services has begun, with the announced titles from the list published last week now being pulled.
However, it turns out a few other titles that weren’t on that list have also been removed, according to eagle-eyed viewers of the service, the most notable being Marvel Television’s “Runaways” and Freeform’s supernatural drama “Motherland: Fort Salem” – both of which ran three seasons.
Taken off without prior announcement, their removal is a part of the cost-cutting measures major streaming platforms are engaging in to shrink their bottom lines.
The first major platform to engage in this policy was Max which pulled several notable movies and television series to avoid paying residuals to their creators. In that case, a good portion of the titles were at least available on disc or on VOD platforms, whilst Warner Bros. Discovery as been licensing out titles to FAST services.
Not so the case with many Disney+ titles which don’t score home media releases, and a removal from their home services makes them decidedly tricky to access. One small comfort with “Runaways” is that unlike with “Willow” or “Y: The Last Man,” it remains available to purchase via VOD services.
“Runaways” follows six teenagers who had to come together to face the biggest threat they had ever crossed paths with, super villains that also happened to be their parents. “Motherland: Fort Salem” follows three witches who are conscripted into the U.S. Army.
