Hulu Reveals Fast Subscriber Growth, Live-TV Streaming Plans

By | May 4, 2016

Scalper1 News

Internet TV service Hulu announced Wednesday that it will reach 12 million subscribers in the U.S. this month, up 30% from a year ago. It also confirmed media reports that it plans to offer a live-TV service in 2017 to complement its on-demand video service. Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins made the announcements at an upfront event in New York City for advertisers. Hopkins said the live-TV service will offer news, sports and entertainment from broadcast and cable TV, but it did not detail content and pricing, TechCrunch reported . “We’re going to fuse the best of linear television and on-demand in a deeply personalized experience optimized for the contemporary, always-connected television fan,” Hopkins said. Hulu’s live-TV service is targeted at cord cutters and cord nevers — those consumers who don’t subscribe to traditional pay-TV services but might be interested in a lower-cost, “skinny bundle” of TV channels. Hulu is looking to charge about $40 a month for the live TV package, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday . It would compete with other live-TV streaming services, such as Dish Network ‘s ( DISH ) Sling TV and Sony ‘s ( SNE ) PlayStation Vue. Dish stock was down 2%, above 46, and Sony’s U.S.-listed shares were down nearly 2%, below 24, in early afternoon trading on the stock market today . Hulu is co-owned by Walt Disney ( DIS ), Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox ( FOXA ). Disney also owns ABC, ESPN and Disney Channel; Comcast owns NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Syfy and USA; and 21st Century Fox owns Fox, Fox News, FX and Fox’s sports channels. Hulu competes with Netflix ( NFLX ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) in the subscription video-on-demand sector. Like its rivals, Hulu has been increasing its original programming, most recently with shows such as “11.22.63” and “The Path.” Scalper1 News

Scalper1 News