Hulu adds Disney and Fox to its upcoming internet TV service
Hulu's pursuit of the live TV market just took another big step forward.
The streaming TV company announced on Tuesday that it has signed deals with 21st Century Fox and the Walt Disney Company, securing the ability to include a variety of major TV channels including ABC, Fox, ESPN, Fox News, FX and a variety of others on its forthcoming service.
Hulu's live TV entry is scheduled to be available in early 2017, and will immediately compete with Dish Network's Sling TV and Playstation's Vue as the major internet TV services. DirecTV is also reportedly readying its own version.
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“We’re building a service that offers subscribers the most sought-after programming on television — and channels from 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company are essential to that mix,” said Mike Hopkins, CEO of Hulu, in a press release.
The deals with Fox and Disney include a total of 35 networks, all of which can be found below.
Hulu already has deals with Time Warner, which includes the Turner lineup of TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network and others. Turner is an investor in Mashable.
Hulu's new service is slated to be a "complement" to the company's existing on-demand service that features recent TV shows, movies and some original programming. Pricing for the service has not yet been made public.
Hulu's entry gives the major TV content creators some skin in the internet streaming game. The company is owned by 21st Century Fox, Comcast and Disney, with Time Warner having a smaller stake as well.
The channels included in the Fox and Disney agreement: Broadcast networks FOX and ABC; Fox Sports networks such as the Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 and BTN; ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN-SEC and ESPN 3; Fox Regional Sports Networks across dozens of key national markets; Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior; Fox News and Fox Business; Freeform; FX, FXX and FXM, and National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild.
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
