Hulu’s new live TV service got a bit of a bump in clout this week as the streaming video company (and Netflix’s understudy) announced new partnerships with 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company.
The service, which was announced back in May and is slated for a 2017 launch, intends to compete with the two current contenders in the live TV streaming market, Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, and will likely share many of the same channels and features.
According to The Verge, Hulu has already signed a deal with Time Warner, which owns CNN, TNT and TBS – i.e. you can count on being able to watch re-runs of The Big Bang Theory if you haven’t had enough laugh track-filled episodes already, and the new deal will bring channels like FX, National Geographic and Fox Sports (all owned by 21st Century Fox), as well as ABC, A&E, the Disney channels and ESPN (all owned by Walt Disney) into the fold.
While the House of Mouse and the Home of Peter Griffin are the two latest additions to the service’s line-up, they won’t be the last as Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins stated that more partners are on their way soon.
The grab is a major one for the streaming service, perhaps giving Hulu enough firepower between its VOD content and new live TV site to overtake Netflix once the live TV portion launches sometime in 2017 to the tune of around $40.
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