Fox News Media said that Hulu Plus Live TV and TCLtv Plus have started carrying Fox Weather, effective Tuesday.

“As the fastest growing weather service, we are excited to further expand our platform, bringing Hulu + Live TV and TCLtv+ audiences Fox Weather’s premium live weather news programming,” said Fox Weather President Sharri Berg.

Fox Weather will be one of 95 channels in Hulu Plus Live TV’s core lineup.

On TCLtv Plus, Fox Weather is one of 300 fast channels available through the smart TV maker.

Fox Weather launched in October 2021 and is available through almost two dozen broadcast, cable and streaming carriers.

Sinclair said it made a distribution deal with Hulu to beginning carrying Sinclair’s Tennis Channel, T2, Comet and Charge! to streaming subscribers.

The channels will be available on Hulu Plus Live TV starting in January.

Also Read: Sinclair Says Its Digital Networks Will Add 2.4 Million Homes This Year

Hulu Plus Live TV carries Sinclair’s TV stations under a separate agreement. Sinclair’s ABC affiliates were blacked out for about a month earlier this year as broadcast stations and networks worked out how carriage agreements with virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like Hulu Plus Live TV are handled

Hulu stopped carrying Sinclair’s regional sports networks in 2020. Diamond Sports, the Sinclair division that runs the RSN business, declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

Nexstar Media Group said it signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Hulu.

All of Nexstar’s ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates are now being carried on Hulu’s virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD), Hulu Plus Live TV. 

Hulu Plus Live TV will also be launching the broadcaster’s MyNetworkTV affiliates and four independent stations on the Hulu Plus Live TV virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).

Nexstar said the deal covers 122 local stations.

The new agreement also renews carriage of NewsNation, Nexstar’s cable news channel.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall estimates that Nexstar’s distribution revenue growth will increase 12% in 2023.

Despite a blackout of Sinclair Broadcast Group- owned ABC affiliates, Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers in Sinclair markets were able to stream Sunday night’s Oscars telecast.

A national feed of the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted coverage of the Academy Awards on ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., was made available by the Disney-controlled virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD), sources confirmed.

The feed was available only during the awards show, one of the most-viewed non-sports telecasts in most years. After the telecast, ABC again went dark in markets where Sinclair owns the ABC affiliates.

Also: Disney Sells Out Oscar Commercials At Prices Between $1.6-$2.1 Million

The feed could breach Sinclair’s affiliation agreement with ABC, although vMVPDs are treated differently from a legal and regulatory point of view than traditional cable and satellite MVPDs.

In its talks with Hulu, Sinclair is seeking carriage of its Tennis Channel, sources said.

Neither ABC nor Sinclair executives would comment on the record.

Negotiations with vMVPDs turned awkward this year, first with CBS affiliates opting out of a deal crafted by CBS owner Paramount Global and FuboTV, and then with Sinclair pulling its signals from Hulu. 

The CBS situation escalated when the network provided Fubo TV with a national feed of CBS programming, with local news and other station programming replaced by material from CBS.

Until Sunday night, ABC had not made network programming available to Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers. ABC shows can be found on Hulu the day after it airs on the network.

Late last week, the CBS Affiliate Board said it endorsed a new offer from Paramount and CBS that puts affiliates’ signals on FuboTV, Hulu Plus Live TV, YouTube TV and Paramount Plus.

“If a crisis between national nets and local stations was emerging, it now appears averted,” Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall noted. “The CBS affiliate board has adopted a new deal for vMVPD carriage. Nexstar has also announced a carriage deal with YouTube TV showing larger broadcasters can go direct. Both deals indicate vMVPDs are not indifferent to local content.”

Cahall noted that Sinclair’s ABC affiliates “remain off of Hulu Live TV, and it looks like ABC offered its national feed to these subs last night during the Oscars.”  ■

Recent disputes between broadcast-television networks and affiliate station owners over virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) have created enough noise to get the attention of Wall Street.

In a research note Friday, MoffettNathanson analysts Robert Fishman and Michael Nathanson weighed in on CBS affiliates no longer being available on FuboTV and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliates getting blacked out on Hulu.

“It is still possible TV station affiliates reach new deals with vMVPDs after any short or even prolonged blackout,“ the analysts said. “But for the moment, it seems that without any change to government regulation over MVPDs, there will be more storms ahead surrounding future negotiations.”

The longstanding relationship between networks and affiliates has been mostly peaceful and mutually beneficial, Fishman and Nathanson noted. “However during periods of negotiation, we are usually not surprised to see more noise around which party has the leverage and how that impacts the terms of new reverse compensation deals.”

Also Read: CBS-FuboTV Flap Adds to Strains With Affiliates, Analyst Says

It’s worth pointing out that until the 1990s, networks paid their affiliates to carry their programming (and national commercials). These days, the stations pay the networks programming fees that mostly help cover the cost of sports — particularly NFL games.

Streaming in general, and the rise of vMVPDs, have complicated the relationship.

On recent earnings calls, station owners have said that vMVPD deals account for only a small fraction of the retrans revenue that makes them attractive to investors.

“Even though it is true that these TV affiliate negotiations are unique to vMVPD deals today, we expect vMVPD subscribers to continue to take share of the declining pay-TV landscape, making this a bigger deal going forward,” they said.

“One interesting angle that we hope to learn more about is how beneficial these new deals are for the big broadcast networks and media parent company owners overall,“ Fishman and Nathanson said. “If national network feeds have the ability to fulfill the NFL local game requirements, it would seem as though the broadcast networks should be able to obtain improved economics from new vMVPD deals.” ■

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliates have been dropped from the Hulu Plus Live TV lineup in a dispute between the station owner and The Walt Disney Co., which controls Hulu and owns ABC.

Virtual multichannel video programming distributors like Hulu Plus Live, YouTube TV and FuboTV don’t negotiate directly with stations for their retransmission rights. Instead, vMVPD deals are negotiated by the networks, which negotiate terms for their affiliates.

CBS affiliates last month rejected a deal negotiated by CBS and the network replaced the affiliates’ feeds with a national feed of CBS programming.

The process with Hulu and the ABC affiliates is a bit different from the way CBS and its affiliates operate. Disney has a master agreement that affiliates can opt into, but the stations also have the ability to negotiate their own agreements with digital distributors directly.

So far, Disney has not made a national ABC feed available to Hulu, but sources indicated that it is only a matter of time unless negotiations with Sinclair start up again.

“After months of negotiations with Sinclair, we were unable to reach a fair, market-based agreement for the carriage of their local ABC affiliates on Hulu Plus Live TV," a Disney spokepeson said. "While Sinclair chose to withhold their affiliates from the Hulu Plus Live TV channel line-up, impacted subscribers can continue to watch their favorite next day ABC programming such as American Idol, The Bachelor, Abbott Elementary, and Grey’s Anatomy.”

Other major station groups say their ABC affiliates remain on Hulu Plus Live TV, with some indicating that they have opted in to the latest offer from Hulu.

Sources indicated that Sinclair might have tried to negotiate with Hulu separately to get carriage of its Tennis Channel network on Hulu.

Also: CBS-FuboTV Flap Adds to Strains With Affiliates, Analyst Says

Network-affiliated stations have argued that they should be able to negotiate directly with vMVPDs and that regulations regarding retransmission should be changed to accommodate them.

Stations are currently expecting to get a new deal then can opt into from the networks regarding YouTube TV.

Sinclair believes the situation with Hulu is more complicated because Disney owns both ABC and Hulu.

Sinclair renewed its affiliation deal with ABC last year.

Another similar situation could be coming for CBS affiliates because the agreement that makes their signals available to Paramount Plus subscribers will expire this year.

In a statement, Sinclair said: “Last night, Disney-owned Hulu decided to remove all of Sinclair’s stations that are affiliated with the Disney-owned ABC network from their Hulu platform, resulting in hundreds of thousands of households in dozens of markets across America losing access to local news, The Bachelor, American Idol, The Oscars and the upcoming NHL and NBA playoffs airing on their local ABC affiliate. 

“We were shocked and dismayed that Hulu removed our stations while in the middle of an active negotiation with no notice to its customers, despite Sinclair’s numerous good faith attempts to negotiate a carriage deal, and multiple unconditional extension offers to keep the stations on Hulu. 

“Sinclair calls on ABC, Hulu and its owners at Disney to return to the negotiating table to end this unnecessary blackout and to recommit to protecting local TV and local news, which is a bedrock service for communities across America. 

“As a reminder to our loyal viewers, these stations remain available on local cable companies, satellite distributors, other streaming platforms and over the air.” ■
 

Hulu is beefing up the linear channel lineup on its Hulu Plus Live streaming TV service, adding 14 channels from independent programmers Allen Media Group, Hallmark Media and Vevo.

"We have been listening to our subscribers and are thrilled to bring some of their most requested channels to our service just in time for the holidays," said Reagan Feeney, senior VP, live TV content programming and partnerships for Hulu. "With these additions, Hulu Plus Live TV continues to be one of the most valuable live TV streaming destinations on the market, offering subscribers access to more than 85 live channels and entire on-demand content libraries from Hulu, Disney Plus, and ESPN Plus."

Hulu Plus Live now offers about 85 live linear channels.

The Walt Disney Co. owns a controlling interest in Hulu. Last week during its earnings report, Disney said that Hulu Plus Live added 400,000 subscribers in the third quarter giving it a total of 4.4 million.

The first channels became available on November 1, when the Weather Channel and Comedy.tv, both from AMG, came on line.

On Monday Hulu is adding Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama. Hallmark Media has been making a distribution push with its channels recently becoming available via NBCUniversal’s Peacock and low-cost family-friendly TV service Frndly TV.

On December 1, Hulu will add six channels from music programmer Vevo and three more from Allen Media Group.

The Vevo channels are Vevo Pop featuring Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Camila Cabello, Vevo Hip-Hop, playing Lil Baby, Kendrick Lamar, Drake; Vevo Country with Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown; Vevo ‘80s, bringing back the sounds of Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston and Cyndi Lauper; Vevo ‘90s with Nirvana, Mariah Carey, TLC and Backstreet Boys; and Vevo Holiday, with classic and newer yuletide hits.

In the past year, Vevo’s channels have been added to TelevisaUnivision’s ViX and The Roku Channel.

The channels from media mogul Byron Allen being added in December are TheGrio Television Network, JusticeCentral.TV and The Weather Channel en Español.

“Partnering with Hulu is another major step in the continued growth and expansion of our Allen Media Group television networks,” said Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “Hulu is a phenomenal platform showcasing excellent content. We are thrilled to add our networks to the Hulu Plus Live TV lineup, and we look forward to a long relationship for years to come.”

AMG has 12 television networks. In addition to Hulu, they are carried on Comcast, DirecTV, YouTube TV, Spectrum, Altice, Dish , Verizon FiOS, Cox Communications and Mediacom. ■

Hulu said that subscribers to its Hulu Plus Live TV service will be getting unlimited DVR storage starting April 13.

Hulu Plus Live TV’s 4.3 million subscribers will be able to record all of the programming that they get from their lineup of more than 80 live channels.

The move follows the announcement that Hulu will no longer be able to offer some NBCUniversal shows on demand the day after they air, starting this fall because NBCU terminated a programming agreement with Hulu. 

With the extra space, Hulu customers will be able to record shows on NBC’s networks, as well as others. And instead of having to wait till the next day to catch up on shows, subscribers who record shows will be able to watch them immediately after they begin airing.

“Hulu + Live TV is becoming even more valuable and attractive to consumers,” said Hulu president Joe Earley. “Through one single subscription, users get access to more than 80 live channels – including all the major broadcast networks – as well as Hulu, Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and soon Unlimited DVR. Guided by our relentless focus on delivering the consumer a high-quality user experience, we will be one of the only pay TV providers  – traditional or streaming – to offer this feature as part of the base plan at no additional cost.” 

YouTube TV, like Hulu, one of the most popular virtual MVPDs, also offers unlimited cloud DVR storage.

Currently, Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers get 50 hours of DVR storage. For an additional charge, higher tiers of service were available offering addition DVR storage. Subscribers to those higher tiers will see a reduction in their monthly bills when the unlimited DVR service kicks in. ■

OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network controlled by Discovery, is available to Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers, effective Thursday (January 6).

Discovery’s major networks -- Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Motor Trend -- have been available on Hulu Plus Live TV since 2018.  

Another group of Discovery Channels, including American Heroes Channel, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Life, Discovery Family, Magnolia Network and Science Channel are available to Hulu Plus subscribers through Hulu’s add-on entertainment package, which costs $7.99 a month.

The OWN carriage comes in time for Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers to catch the premieres of Ladies Who List: Atlanta on Friday and The Kings of Napa on January 11.

“We are excited to partner with Hulu on this opportunity to connect with new audiences and expand viewership for our hit OWN programming across multiple platforms,” said Tina Perry, president, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. “Hulu Plus Live TV is a great fit for OWN as a top destination for viewers and brands, providing world-class content and unique live entertainment events.”

OWN is also working with Hulu and Disney’s Onyx Collective on a docuseries, The Hair Tales, from executive producers Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis. Oprah Winfrey is also among the executive producers. The series is expected to premiere later this year. ■

Growth slowed for virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) in the third quarter of 2021, as the category added just under 1 million subscribers compared to 1.7 million new subscribers a year ago, according to a cord-cutting analysis by MoffettNathanson.

Including the modest gains for the vMVPDs, total pay TV distribution was down 5.2% in the third quarter, the biggest drop since the 5.5% decline in the second quarter of 2020. 

Losses for cable operators reached 6.2% in the third quarter, the fastest decline on record. Satellite distributors lost customers at nearly twice that rate at 12%, but that was an improvement from a year ago, when subscribers declined 14%.

The vMVPDs now have about 14.2 million subscribers, MoffettNathanson estimates.

MoffettNathanson blamed the vMVPD deceleration in part on price increases.

“Six years ago, everyone burst out of the gate with eye-popping low prices,” MoffettNathanson said in a report Tuesday (January 5). “That helped them get out of the gate, but it undermined their longer-term prospects in two ways.”

The first issue was that the vMVPDs attracted price-sensitive consumers. The second issue is that the vMVPDs would have to their raise prices faster than traditional distributors as content companies increased their license fees.

DirecTV Stream has already raised the price of its Choice and Premier tiers, effective January 23. And having reached a new deal with The Walt Disney Co. at the end of the year, a price increase for YouTube TV — the biggest of the vMVPDs — is just around the corner.

YouTube TV added 225,000 subscribers in the third quarter, MoffettNathanson estimated, down from 400,000 additions a year ago. Hulu Live added about 300,000 subs in the quarter, compared to a gain of 700,000 a year ago. A big gainer in the quarter was FuboTV, which added more subscribers in the quarter than a year ago and now has a total of 945,000 customers.

For media companies, growth of affiliate fees slowed to 3% in the third quarter. Retransmission fee growth dropped to 11% in the third quarter from 15% in the second quarter. Cable-network fees rose 2%, down from 3% in the second quarter.

Retrans fees rose more than 14% for Disney, NBCUniversal and Fox, but less than 4% for ViacomCBS. NBCU also rang up the biggest cable affiliates fee growth at 7.5%. AMC and Turner’s fee revenue dropped compared to a year ago.

“There was a time when cord-cutting statistics were avidly watched,” MoffettNathanson concluded. “Not anymore.” 

“The market seems resigned to a steady deterioration. Yes, the rate of decline (when one includes vMVPDs) at 5.2% is among the worst on record, and is undoubtedly worse than we and others had once over-optimistically projected. But it is still orderly, and as long as the decline is orderly, media investors have leave to focus on the upside promise of DTC platforms rather than the downside certainty of linear,” the report said. 

“But there is clearly a risk that the declines become disorderly. All it would take is one major player — ESPN is the obvious candidate — to decide that the future demands a bolder shift in their best programming to DTC, or, alternatively, that their entire suite of programming should be simultaneously available DTC … and the Jenga tower would collapse,” they said. ■

The Walt Disney Co. is pushing subscribers of its Hulu Plus Live TV further into its streaming bundle.

In an email to subscribers Friday, the company said it is raising the price of its virtual multichannel video programming distributor by $5 a month to $69.99 a month (with ads in on-demand programming) and $75.99 a month (without ads in on-demand programming).

But after the price increase kicks in, those vMVPD subscribers will also find themselves getting Disney Plus and ESPN Plus.

"With this change, you will also get access to Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. On Disney Plus, you can watch all the amazing content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and Nat Geo, plus The Simpsons. And ESPN Plus has even more live sports and the award winning 30 for 30 library," the email to subscribers said.

The increase goes into effect Dec. 21. The price for Hulu’s SVOD product went up by $1 in October. 

Disney has increasingly been pushing its streaming services--Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu as a bundle as it attempts to challenge Netflix as the TV business pivots to direct-to customer.

“Consumers with a Hulu Plus Live TV subscription will now have the most complete offering in streaming that provides viewers with a full live and on-demand TV experience,” the company said.

The new arrangement should provide a bump to Disney Plus, whose growth has slowed. 

Disney took a beating when the most-recent quarterly report shows that Disney Plus had added just 2.1 million subscribers.

Company executives said that they expected growth to accelerate in the second half of next year as its original programming, clogged by pandemic production constraints, opens up. The company also said it planned to increase spending on content.

Disney’s loss on its direct-to-consumer streaming business rose to $630 million from $374 million a year ago for the quarter. Revenue increased 38% to $4.6 billion from $3.3 billion a year ago.

Hulu finished the quarter with 43.8 million subscribers, up from 42.8 million the previous quarter and 36.6 million a year ago. Hulu had 4 million subscribers to its Live TV Plus SVOD service, up from 3.7 million in the prior quarter, when subs dropped by 100,000.

Hulu and other vMVPDs have seen their growth slowed by continual price hikes. The streaming pay-TV services were originally designed as a lower-cost alternative to traditional cable, but given the high cost of programming, few of them are profitable according to analysts.

Hulu Plus Plus Live TV will give viewers access to 75 live TV channels and a library of 100,00 on demand movies and TV episodes, original shows and live sporting events.

One month after the 2021 Major League Baseball regular season threw out its first pitch, virtual multichannel video programming distributors YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV and Fubo TV are still without Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports networks.

About 19 of Sinclair’s RSNs, rebranded under the Bally Sports Networks name this month, went dark to YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV customers in the fall (Fubo TV dropped the channels in January 2020), but there were hopes that the networks would return in time for opening day of the Major League Baseball regular season. That didn’t happen. 

Pricing appears to be the reason for the decision to do without the channels, and apparently there has been little movement on either side regarding negotiations. 

In addition to the Bally Sports channels, YouTube and Hulu also passed on carriage for another RSN in which Sinclair owns a minority interest -- YES Network, TV home of the New York Yankees. Marquee Sports Network, owned by the Chicago Cubs and also minority-owned by Sinclair, reached a carriage deal with Fubo TV on March 31, but still doesn’t have a deal with YouTube TV and Hulu. 

Despite the impasse, the networks have enjoyed strong ratings, according to people familiar with the channels. The YES Network, which launched a new authenticated app in March, said its opening week TV audience was its largest in nine years.

YouTube dropped the Sinclair RSNs in September, Hulu in October and Fubo TV in January 2020. Back in March, Sinclair said that it was working toward an agreement with the streamers, but so far that hasn’t been successful. Sinclair did not return a request for comment. 

Sinclair is scheduled to release its Q1 financial results on May 5, so they are likely to field a few questions about the dispute on its quarterly conference call with analysts. 

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Sinclair and the streamers haven’t met for months. And as the impasse continues, the prospect that a deal will be reached this baseball season, seems farther from reality. 

At the beginning of the month, sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO of LHB Media & Entertainment, guessed that maybe one of the streamers would reach a deal with the Sinclair RSNs, but not all of them. His reason: streamers just don’t see sports as the glue that holds the bundle together, like traditional distributors do. 

At the time, Berke said that regular season baseball would be the litmus test for the streamers. If their subscriber rolls weren’t materially affected by the loss of games, then they probably could do without the channels all-together.   

“It’s difficult to see all three of them coming back in,” Berke said a month ago. 

Today, his mind hasn’t changed. 

“I don't think it’s a good sign for the RSNs,” Berke said Friday (April 30) of the continued impasse. “That being said I don’t think a month alone will do it,” adding that baseball fans get more engaged later in the season as pennant races heat up. So there is still some time left to figure out the true impact of not carrying the networks. 

YouTube TV, Hulu and Fubo TV are not devoid of sports without the Sinclair RSNs. The vMVPDs carry ESPN and MLB Network, TBS and TNT that carry national baseball games. They just don’t have all the games of all the local professional teams, which are primarily carried on RSNs.

“They [the vMVPDs] are trying to see if that allows them to skate by,” Berke said. “You’ve got large numbers of younger fans that want to see these games through their virtual MVPDs. But if it’s not in numbers large enough or compelling enough to make them change their strategy then they are going to continue to go forward with it. The crunch point is going to be in the next couple of months.”

Sinclair purchased the RSNs in 2019 from The Walt Disney Co. for about $10 billion. Dish dropped the Sinclair RSNs in July 2019, shortly before it closed the Disney deal, and since then pay TV distributors have increasingly resisted big price increases from RSNs.  Although Sinclair has carriage deals for the RSNs with most major traditional distributors, the streaming channels, which have a younger audience, are starting to fight back.

Also Read: Sinclair RSNs Face ‘Tumultuous Period, Analyst Says 

YouTube TV has been in the news lately for a different battle with streaming box maker Roku. Today (April 30), YouTube let its Roku deal expire. 

Current YouTube TV customers would continue to be able to access their subscription via the Roku device. They just won’t be able to download the YouTube TV app from the Roku store, which would prevent new customers from signing up via Roku. Access to the free YouTube internet app would be unaffected. 

Also Read: Who Needs Roku? YouTube Already Dominates Worldwide Video 

Some fans have taken to social media to voice their displeasure, with several tweeting that the Roku impasse, coupled with dropping the RSNs could be the last straw. 

“Between this and losing the regional sports channels you used to have, and that I wouldn't have switched to you if you didn't have - Fix these problems or I'm gone,” said one YouTube TV user. 

So far, Sinclair doesn’t seem to have taken the usual path of a programmer in similar disputes -- asking fans to put pressure on the distributor either by calling and emailing the distributor or switching providers. The Bally Sports Twitter feeds are mainly focused on game highlights, although Sinclair did set up a dedicated microsite -- www.getmyhometeams.com -- in December that directs fans to other providers like AT&T TV, DirecTV, and Spectrum (depending on the market) to get access to the RSNs. Sinclair has had a reputation of being an aggressive adversary in distribution disputes -- look back on any of its major retrans battles for proof of that -- so its current stance is a bit unusual. 

Whether the current battle escalates or not, Berke said a lot of the controversies that have surrounded Sinclair and other RSNs are missing the larger point, which is the erosion of the current RSN model.

“The RSN model works extremely well when cable pay TV penetration is growing or is at least stable,“ Berke said. “But it was not set up to profitably handle the retrenchment of pay TV penetration. That is what needs to be addressed. And you address that by offering up your networks to as many platforms as possible. That’s easier said than done, but it’s imperative.”

NFL Media said Tuesday that it has reached a multi-year carriage agreement with Hulu that will bring its NFL Network and NFL RedZone to Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers beginning Aug. 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal comes on the heels of the league’s landmark 11-year, $95 billion TV deal inked in March. 

"We are excited to bring NFL Network and NFL RedZone to Hulu + Live TV subscribers," said Hans Schroeder, NFL Media executive VP and chief operating officer, in a press release. "One of our top priorities as a League remains broadening the distribution platforms for NFL content, and so we're very pleased to bring our lineup of award-winning shows and live games to Hulu's live subscribers starting in the 2021 NFL season."

Also Read: What the New NFL Rights Deals Say About the Future of Sports on ‘TV’

NFL Network will give Hulu Plus Live TV subscribers access to live games and shows like Good Morning Football, NFL GameDay Morning, NFL Total Access and NFL Now, and original series such as A Football Life, NFL 360 and America's Game. NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson delivers every touchdown from every game to fans on Sunday afternoons during the NFL regular season.

"With the addition of NFL Network and NFL RedZone to our channel lineup, Hulu + Live TV continues to be the ultimate destination for sports fans to watch thousands of hours of live sports programming," said Reagan Feeney, Hulu senior VP, live TV content programming & partnerships, in a press release. "Starting with the 2021 NFL season, our viewers will have a front row seat to exclusive live games, original shows and other NFL content year-round."

T-Mobile has shed light on just which live steaming service(s) isn't compatible with its just launched fixed 5G internet service, and it's a rather conspicuous omission: It's Hulu + Live TV. 

"T-Mobile Home Internet supports most video streaming services, like YouTube TV or Netflix," a company spokesperson told Next TV. "However, at the moment, Hulu + Live TV is not supported due to a technical requirement in delivering the service. We’re working closely with Hulu to resolve this as quickly as possible."

The revelation sheds light on a two-month-old mystery tied to the T-Mobile Home Internet fine print, which says the platform doesn't support "certain live streaming services." 

But it also exacerbates competitive suspicions: As in, why can't T-Mobile, which just entered into an expanded agreement with Google to make YouTube TV the flagship video product bundled with its new fixed wireless service, solve a technical bug so it can also support YouTube TV's biggest live-streaming rival, a platform with more than 4 million subscribers?

And while there are plenty of cases where OTT device ecosystems don't support certain streaming apps, how many times have you heard about an ISP being incompatible with a streaming service?

Wednesday Was Actually Launch Day

T-Mobile officially launched its 5G Home Internet service Wednesday, touting availability of the $60-a-month, 100 Mbps-speed fixed broadband platform in 30 million U.S. homes. At a press event for the service, T-Mobile said it could have as many as 8 million fixed wireless customers by 2024, although analysts have been skeptical. But the Home Internet service isn't exactly brand new--T-Mobile has had a pilot program in place for fixed wireless for over a year, and all the marketing material has already been out there for months. 

T-Mobile’s little 6-pt munition was first reported on back in February by technologist David Zatz. And the issue came bubbling back up on Twitter Wednesday, amid T-Mobile's formal introduction of its 5G service. 

Last week, T-Mobile announced the shuttering of its TVision platform, just six months after relaunching the pay TV service as a live-streaming/vMVPD platform. As T-Mobile seeks to pry wireline broadband marketshare from the cable industry, TVision was billed as the bundled video compliment to the strategy. But also last week, T-Mobile simultaneously announced that it will instead bundle third-party live-streaming services YouTube TV and Philo at discount with its various wireless products.

It's notable that T-Mobile does have a relationship with Hulu, a joint venture that is now controlled by Disney. Sprint, which was acquired last year by T-Mobile, offers the Hulu VOD ad-supported base package free to unlimited wireless customers. 

But at least for now, T-Mobile live-streaming partners don't have to worry about competing with Hulu on the Home Internet service. 

With the baseball regular season fast approaching -- Opening Day is officially April 1 -- several regional sports networks are facing deadlines to hammer out deals with over-the-top players and streaming services, but according to some observers, they shouldn’t hold out too much hope of landing a deal by the first pitch. 

Satellite TV giant Dish Network and its OTT arm Sling TV, have set an April 1 deadline for dropping three NBC Sports RSNs --  NBC Sports California, NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports and NBC Sports Bay Area. Dish already dropped the remaining NBC Sports channels -- NBC Sports Chicago and networks in Philadelphia, Boston, and the Pacific Northwest -- in 2019. If the recent blackout threat holds, Dish and Sling TV customers will miss baseball from the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s, hockey from the Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks, and basketball from the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards. 

“As of 4/1/2021, NBC Regional Sports Networks will no longer be on SLING. We are committed to providing the best value with the flexibility our customers deserve and, unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreement on those terms,” Dish said in an email to customers, according to The Streamable. 

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV 

Pricing is the main culprit in the failure to reach a Dish deal. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has battled with programmers -- particularly sports programmers - for years over what he believes are exorbitant fees. If Dish drops the NBC Sports networks it will be totally devoid of RSNs, having dropped others like MSG Network decades ago.    

Ergen has said he has nothing against sports, but it’s evident that most pay TV customers don’t watch them and in turn don’t want to pay for them.

“I think you’ve got to change that model,” Ergen said of RSNs on Dish’s Q3 earnings call in November, adding that the value of regional sports to his customers was “overrated.”  

Also Read: Comcast’s Xfinity Flex Adds MLB.TV

While most RSNs have managed to hammer out agreements over the past couple of years with traditional distributors, the failure to launch with streamers should be especially troubling. RSNs like YES Network and Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Fox Sports Networks (rebranding as Bally Sports on March 31) still don’t have deals with the likes of Sling TV, FuboTV, Hulu Live + TV and YouTube TV (although YES recently agreed to stream 21 Yankees games on Amazon Prime Video). Streaming services are supposed to be the future -- it’s the way all the kids are watching content today -- and failure to land carriage could hurt the networks in the long run. 

According to The Streamable, AT&T TV is the only OTT service provider that offers access to every RSN. But AT&T TV is priced at about $84.99 per month, making it eerily close to the traditional TV package that most youngsters abhor.

While distributors are trying to find programming that people are compelled to watch, and sports is still a ratings grabber, it doesn’t always justify the cost. RSNs have been under fire for their pricey affiliate fees and operators have begun to push back.

Also Read: Pluto TV Winds Up to Launch MLB Channel

Sports consultant Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Media & Entertainment, said the current stance by streamers harkens back to their early days. When streamers like Hulu Live and YouTube TV launched, they avoided RSNs because of their high price. The turning point was in 2016 when Sling TV agreed to carry some Fox RSNs. 

Now that most of the vMVPDs have national deals with sports networks like ESPN and FS1, local broadcast deals that also include games and out-of-market packages with several leagues, the strategy has shifted. 

“I think they are trying to see if they can get by without the RSNs,” Berke said of the streaming services, adding that the start of the MLB season could be the moment of truth. 

“That’s the crunch point,” Berke said. “Will the overwhelming number of games that are being offered up by the league cause enough grief with the streamers to say they’ll come back in and strike a deal.” 

In the past many of these deals with traditional MVPDs were done literally seconds before the first pitch of the regular season, mainly because ultimately those distributors realized that sports was the glue that held the bundle together. Streamers don’t feel the same way.

“Maybe one of them will,” Berke said on the possibility of a last-minute streaming RSN deal. “It’s difficult to see all three of them coming back in.” 

Unlike the dynamic between MVPDs and RSNs, streamers seem to hold the advantage, at least for the short term. Berke pointed to Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter, who complained recently that fans on his Twitter feed are frustrated they can’t see games on Fox Sports North because the RSN doesn’t have a streaming deal, over which the team has no control. The RSN is available through a traditional pay TV subscription. 

"I don't enjoy going to my Twitter account as often as I used to because there are some people who are taking it out on me," St. Peter told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "That's OK. I've got a thick skin. Look, life is hard in a lot of cases and people want to be able to watch their teams. I don't think that is an unrealistic or unfair expectation from our fans." 

That should be a wake-up call to both streamers and traditional MVPDs.

“People who are on his [St. Peter’s] Twitter feed are relatively younger and tech savvy,” Berke said. “They could watch Twins games on Comcast or Spectrum or whatever on a linear pay TV service, but that’s not part of who they are anymore. They stream. So if they’re not getting it as part of Hulu or YouTube TV, from their standpoint they can’t see those games.” 

While Berke added that a big enough drop in subscribers could force the streamers to the table, eventually the model will have to shift to direct-to-consumer. Already a few RSNs have set the stage for such an offering. Earlier this month, YES Network debuted a dedicated streaming app that offers a 24/7 feed of the network, including live games from the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, NYFC and New York Liberty. Viewers still need to authenticate through their pay TV subscription to see the programming, but that could easily change in the future. Sinclair has said it plans to launch a DTC app next year. 

Berke added that direct-to-consumer should be the goal for RSNs and distributors alike.

"From a streamers standpoint, from a network standpoint from an RSN standpoint, you have to be able to say, 'I’m going direct-to-consumer,'" Berke said. “And by the way, when you’re negotiating with Comcast, they’re going direct-to-consumer as well. We’re trying to defend the bundle, meanwhile we’re doing everything possible to undercut it. But that’s fair enough, that’s what they should be doing. That’s the way media technology works.”

He added that the shift to streaming is in part being done because of necessity. Pay TV subscribers are declining at an accelerated rate that doesn’t seem to be slowing. 

“There’s a reckoning that is coming to pass for every network,” Berke said. “You’re seeing the strategies being laid out with all the streamers and how they are laying out programming, how they're categorizing it, how they’re pricing it, how they’re producing content, sports entertainment and news. But when it comes to sports in particular, when it comes to the RSNs in particular, they are going to have to make those moves in the next few years, and they are going to have to start preparing for it now.”

ViacomCBS and The Walt Disney Co’s Hulu reached a new, expanded distribution agreement that adds 14 more of ViacomCBS’s cable channels to the Hulu Plus Live TV virtual MVPD.

Also Read: Hulu Ups vMPVD Price by $10

The deal comes a year after their merger of Viacom with CBS. One benefit of that deal was that the leverage of CBS’s broadcast network would help Viacom’s cable channels in negotiations with distributors.

At the same time, ViacomCBS will be launching Paramount Plus--an expanded, rebranded version of CBS All Access-- this year, which will compete directly with Hulu and other streaming services.

Read Also: How the Top vMVPDs Stack Up

Under the new deal, BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon are among the channels being added to the Hulu Plus Live TV streaming service. Also gaining distribution are Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic.

Read Also: Disney Grows Into Big Player in vMVPD Game

The CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and the CW will continue to be carried, along with the Showtime premium subscription service.

Financial terms were not disclosed. 

“We are excited to have reached an expanded agreement with Hulu that underscores the value of our powerful portfolio of brands to next-generation TV platforms and viewers,” said Ray Hopkins, president, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “Hulu continues to be a great partner, and this agreement ensures that Hulu + Live TV subscribers are now able to enjoy the full breadth of our leading content across news, sports and entertainment for the first time.”

Since the merger, which was completed in December of 2019, ViacomCBS has completed several new distribution deals covering its combined portfolio of networks. Those deals include agreements with Comcast, Dish and Verizon. 

As expected, Hulu has increased the monthly pricing of its virtual pay TV service, upping the cost of the base package by $10 to $64.99 a month, effective Dec. 18.

The 18% price bump puts Hulu Plus Live TV on par with the second biggest virtual MVPD, YouTube TV, which is also priced at $64.99. 

The premium version of Hulu Plus Live TV, which includes no commercials in the SVOD component of the service, is now priced at $70.99. Hulu Plus Live TV combines the long-standing Hulu subscription video-on-demand service with a live-streamed virtual pay TV offering that touts over 65 channels. 

Also read: Disney Grows Into Big Player in vMVPD Game

As mentioned, the price increase wasn’t unexpected. Hulu bumped its vMVPD price up during the same week last year … and the year before that. 

Also read: How the Top vMVPDs Stack Up

Subscriber momentum is hot right now, with the live TV service adding around 700,000 customers in the third quarter and currently touting an industry-leading 4.1 million, according to figures released by controlling parent Disney last week. 

Below is a graphic showing how the top vMVPDs rank. Note that Hulu Plus Live TV is still listed in the graphic at its old price. 

As the product category evolves, and operators get better at the science of live-streaming video over the open internet, users of virtual pay TV platforms are becoming happier with their service.

An online survey of 6,462 U.S. households conducted by Leichtman Research Group found that 76% of respondents are very satisfied with their vMVPD service compared to 69% in 2018.

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Only 14% are inclined to switch to another virtual pay TV service in the next six months compared to 27% in 2018, the last time LRG conducted its Internet Delivered Pay-TV Services study.

The vMVPD category includes Hulu Plus Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV Now, fuboTV, Philo and Vidgo.

The 2020 version of LRG’s report suggests the category still isn’t all that accretive to the overall pay TV business. Only 12% of vMVPD subscribers were most recently non-subscribers to any type of pay TV service.

The biggest share of users, 44%, arrived from traditional cable, satellite or telco platforms, while 26% have kept their traditional service and 18% switched from another vMVPD.

Overall, 18% of adults ages 18-44 have a vMVPD service, with that age group accounting for 65% of U.S. vMVPD subscribers.

LRG found that 79% of all households have at least one SVOD or direct-to-consumer streaming video service, and 44% have three or more of these services.

“More than ever, consumers are exploring the trade-offs between traditional and vMVPD pay-TV services—along with an increasing number of streaming options—to find the combination of content and cost that best meets their needs,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Younger adults and those with more people and TVs in the household have thus far proven to be most attracted to the lower-cost and lower-channel vMVPD options.”

Hulu’s two-year-old virtual pay TV service has 2 million subscribers and is currently driving an industry-leading annual revenue of more than $1 billion.

That’s the claim made by eMarketer, which has some rather interesting projections, estimates—and outright wild guesses?—in its latest report, “US Subscription Video Landscape 2019: Bracing for an Onslaught of New Services.”

In its report, the research company looks at the entire flora and fauna of U.S. SVOD and live streaming platforms. In its rankings on the vMVPD sector, eMarketer concedes that its revenue figures do not include advertising—a nascent but growing part of the business for operators like Hulu.

The data seems somewhat sound—it is largely accepted that Hulu Plus Live TV ranks somewhere between the publicly traded likes of Dish Network’s Sling TV and AT&T’s DirecTV Now.

Other figures are slightly more illuminating. For example, the research firm estimates that Sony PlayStation Vue has around 800,000 users after four years on the market. YouTube TV, which launched around the same time as Hulu With Live TV, is at around 1 million customers, eMarketer said. 

Hulu+ Live TV and YouTube TV added 500,000 and 400,000 customers respectively in the fourth quarter, according to a MoffettNathanson estimate, as the two OTT companies have started to shake up the virtual MVPD market’s leadership board.

Unlike Market leader Sling TV from Dish Network, and AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Hulu and YouTube don’t report quarterly subscriber gains or losses. “But our sources tell us they did very well in Q4,” MoffettNathanson said in a report published Friday.

Hulu+ Live TV’s latest growth spurt puts at around 1.7 million customers, according to MoffettNathanson, which would move it on the leadership board ahead of DirecTV Now, which lost 267,000 users in Q4, mainly due to customers coming off steep promotions.

YouTube TV, meanwhile, is approaching 1 million customers, the research company postulates.

Despite the Hulu and YouTube gains, DirecTV Now’s losses and Sling TV’s modest gains (+50,000 subscribers in Q4) narrowed growth for the entire vMVPD category (740,000 vs. 900,000 in Q4 2017). That disrupted the delicate “one-for-one” balance with linear cord cutting--the gains for vMVPDs had evenly and elegantly offsset linear pay TV losses in recent quarters. In the fourth quarter, MoffettNathanson said the entire U.S. pay TV ecosystem lost around 247,000 subscribers.

The narrower gain for the vMVPD market came despite the fact that there were more consumers cutting the cord to linear.

So what’s happening here? The research company suggested a theory of exhausted pent-up demand. The vMVPD market grew rapidly over the past few years, it suggested, on the strength of unsatisfied demand from a pool of consumers who had previously cut the cord to linear services. Those consumers are now accounted for.

Investment research outfits like MoffettNathanson have dismissed the bottom-line impact of live-streamed, skinny vMVPD services. For the most part, these are all losing money at this point. But the research company conceded that vMVPDs have been a “godsend” to programmers, who are able to charge vMVPDs even higher affiliate fees for carriage.

“With a conversion rate of close to 1:1, cord-cutting has been virtually painless” to programmers,” MoffettNathanson noted. “With the weak results of the fourth quarter, the future now looks a bit more dystopian.”