For many years, T-Mobile offered customers a free Netflix subscription with their mobile plan. The included Netflix at the time was ad-free due to the fact Netflix had no ad-supported tier at the time. Then in January of 2024, the company decided to redo all Netflix On Us to be Netflix Standard with ads.
Obviously this was a huge change, especially for legacy customers that were now going from ad-free to tons of ads. As a form of compensation, T-Mobile offered these customers Hulu (with ads) “On Us” via a one-time redemption code. Hulu “On Us” was also added to the list of perks that new customers get when signing up for the Go5G Next plan.
At the time, many customers wondered how T-Mobile would continue the “On Us” benefit once the year ran out. Well, according to some internal documents shared with us here at The Mobile Report, we now know how it will work moving forward.
The documents, which we’re unable to share right now, say that T-Mobile will now be offering the Hulu “On Us” perk via T-Mobile billing. This will work just like Netflix, and customers will sign in to Hulu via T-Mobile and set T-Mobile as the payment method on the Hulu account.
There’s a big catch though. T-Mobile will only pay for the Hulu with Ads plan. This means that, unlike Netflix, customers will not be able to upgrade to ad-free and pay the difference.
Not only that, but customers that have had Hulu “On Us” for the last year and who have added an add-on like Disney+ will need to remove that add-on to be eligible for free Hulu moving forward. You get Hulu with ads, or you get nothing.
It’s unclear which party made the decision to disallow upgrades. Our guess is Hulu, because they rather have the ad revenue from all those free accounts instead of the $9 upgrade fee they’d get from ad-free customers. Either way, it’s a very anti-consumer move, and one we’ve come to expect from companies nowadays.
As a summary, here are the customers that are eligible for Hulu “On Us”:
| Plan | Streaming Perks |
|---|---|
| Go5G Next | Hulu with Ads, Apple TV+, Netflix Standard w/Ads |
| Grandfathered plans that had Netflix Standard prior to January 2024 | Hulu with Ads, Netflix Standard w/Ads |
| Go5G Plus and Magenta MAX | Apple TV+, Netflix Standard w/Ads |
| Go5G, Magenta | Netflix Standard w/Ads |
| Essentials, Essentials Saver | None |
One other thing to note is that customers who were eligible to claim Hulu “On Us” as a legacy perk for grandfathered plans, but chose not to redeem it, will also be eligible to add Hulu “On Us” once the offer launches.
T-Mobile’s documents also say that Disney will be reaching out to T-Mobile customers with add-ons to inform them that they won’t be able to keep them moving forward, so if you think you’re affected, keep an eye out for that.
Update: Customers are already receiving notification emails as in the example below.
In addition to the “On Us” benefits, customers who are not eligible for free Hulu (or who want to upgrade to ad-free) can choose to pay their full-price Hulu bill directly through T-Mobile. It’s likely not many people would want to do such a thing, but the option is there. Once again, though, add-ons won’t be supported.
The new changes are currently set to go into effect on Wednesday, December 4th, but existing customers may not need to take action until January 7th. That’s the date when the Hulu memos (SOC codes) will automatically be added to qualifying accounts. T-Mobile representatives will, however, be able to fast-track the account if necessary.
We’ll keep an eye on things here at TMR and will update you if we learn more. For now, we simply recommend those impacted to wait until January and switch their Hulu billing over to T-Mobile. Now is also probably a good time to make sure your Hulu isn’t set to auto-renew at full price, just in case you forget.
