US OTT on-demand service Hulu announced that it has signed up Disney and 21st Century Fox for its upcoming linear TV streaming OTT service.
The deals cover 35 networks in total, including ABC and Fox broadcast networks as well as Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 and BTN; ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN-SEC and ESPN 3; Fox Regional Sports Networks across dozens of 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.
Hulu previously made a deal with Time-Warner, which operates channels such as TNT, TBS and CNN. TW is on of the four owners of Hulu, Disney and Fox are two of the others, while Comcast is the fourth.
NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, is said to be nearing a deal for its networks. Hulu currently has 12 million subscribers.
The new linear platform is scheduled to begin service in 2017, and will compete against other linear OTT services offering a ‘skinny bundle’, such as Sony’s Playstation Vue and Sling TV.
