Hulu has announced today that it will launch a live TV service in early 2017, becoming a full-on competitor to cable.
At an advertiser presentation at Madison Square Garden, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said that the firm wants to merge on-demand and live television. It should be interesting to see what the company plans to offer, since most cable companies offer a combination of the two types of services.
According to Hopkins, the service will continue to provide more original content as well, as it gained more subscribers on President's Day this year than any other day in the firm's history, due to the premiere of 11.22.63, a sci-fi drama series starring James Franco, based on a Stephen King novel.
Hopkins also said that Hulu provided more streams that week than any other week and - perhaps more interestingly - 70% of all streams are now to a TV set.
This isn't the first time that Hulu will be offering add-ons to its service. Last June, the firm began offering Showtime for an additional $8.99 a month. In September, it began offering an ad-free service for an additional $4; however, Hopkins says that this hasn't had much uptake.
While official pricing hasn't been announced, a Hulu executive told the Wall Street Journal that $40-per-month is "in the ballpark". 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney Co. are both co-owners of the company (along with Comcast Corp.), so naturally it's likely to see content from those two companies on the new service.
Source: Wall Street Journal via CNET
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