There is a lot of talk about what Hulu will and will not have on their live TV streaming service. So lets take a look at what local networks Hulu has deals with.
In the last week Disney and NBCUniversal announced deals with more than 160 local ABC affiliate stations and most NBC affiliates.
With these deals NBC and ABC affiliates will now allow over-the-top services such as DIRECTV NOW, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV to stream ABC & NBC affiliate live broadcasts in local markets across the United States. Disney said the deal means that roughly 90% of all TV households in the U.S. will soon be able to stream live ABC local broadcasts through a streaming service subscription, if they are not already available.
This also likely means that local ABC and NBC stations will be available through Hulu’s new live TV streaming service that is expected to launch in May. Disney, FOX, and Comcast (The parent company behind NBCUniversal) each own 30% stakes in the Hulu streaming service. Well no announcement has been made the timing of these deals likely points to a effort to get the deals done before Hulu live TV launches. It would be very strange for NBC and ABC to make these deals just weeks before the launch of Hulu live TV and not include the live TV streaming service they own.
“We are committed to digital distribution solutions that benefit the local/national relationship and the value it brings to consumers, so this is a real win for us, our affiliates and our video partners,” said Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood, who previously announced the Clearinghouse initiative last year.
“We are excited to take the important step of planting local Affiliates linear feeds in a position to join the Over the Top space, along with our network partners,” said NBC Affiliates chairman Ralph Oakley in a statement. “We believe that OTT distribution can play an important role in ensuring the growth and development of local, network-affiliated television stations. We appreciate NBC’s forward-looking approach to growing our historic partnership.”
There is no word on how many FOX affiliates will be a part of Hulu’s live TV. FOX is 30% part owner so it should be expected that at least FOX owned local channels will be a part of Hulu’s live TV streaming service.
CBS even has made a special deal with Hulu’s live TV streaming service. Well the deal was announced back at CES in January we do not know if this will be for on demand content or a live feed of CBS affiliates.
So, it is very possible that Hulu’s live TV streaming service will launch with the big 4 broadcast networks live on their service in at least some markets.
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