Hulu is announcing this morning at its Upfront presentation in New York a new affiliate agreement with lifestyle media company Scripps Networks Interactive, that will bring a host of its top channels to both Hulu’s existing on-demand service as well as its now-launched live TV service. The channels being added include HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network – helping to round out Hulu’s live TV service’s already robust offering.
The announcement comes only a day after Hulu announced a deal with NBCUniversal, which means the service will be able to stream all four of the major broadcast stations – NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox – on its live TV offering. However, not all markets will have all four stations available at launch, due to the nature of the affiliate deals.
Hulu told us that NBC would stream live in roughly 5 to 6 markets when the live TV service launches, but then would bring on more local affiliates on a weekly basis.
With NBCU and Scripps, Hulu’s live TV lineup is one of the more compelling on the market, given it will have the four majors, along with Telemundo, USA, Syfy, Bravo, E!, MSNBC, CNBC, NBCSN, and Sprout from NBCU, as well as A&E, History, Lifetime, LMN, FYI, Viceland, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Disney XD, Fox News, Fox Business, Freeform, FX, FXX, FXM, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, truTV, Boomerang, Turner Classic Movies, thanks to deals with ABC-Disney, CBS, Fox, Turner and others.
For sports fans, it includes ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Golf Channel, and TNT, as well as regional sports networks in many markets.
In total, there are over 50 channels available on Hulu’s live TV service.
The company announced the launch of the live TV service today at the $39.99 per month price point TechCrunch previously reported, which includes 50 hours of recording storage space, up to 6 profiles per account, and two simultaneous streams. The option to upgrade to an enhanced cloud DVR and unlimited streams is extra, and can be packaged together for $19.99 per month more.