Hulu's New Streaming Service Will Focus on Sports
This is intriguing.
Hulu says its new streaming service will focus heavily on sports. Here’s what their CEO Mike Hopkins told Ad Week:
“CBS has the No. 1 network [in ages] 18-54, and they have a lot of really great programming. We’re going to make this a sports-centric offering, and if you’re going to make that part of your package, you have to have NFL, you have to have the complete March Madness package and all of the other great sports that they have. We thought it would be important to have the big four broadcasters, and CBS certainly rounds that package out for us.”
Hulu will also have Disney, FOX and Time Warner channels. Hopkins says he also expects NBC Universal programming to be included.
The way I see it, for something to be successful as a sport-focused product, it needs to have three levels of content:
- The networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX), because they still broadcast a number of major sporting events, most notably football.
- ESPN, because they still have the rights to major events, and to a lesser extent NBC Sports and FOX Sports.
- Regional sports networks. A majority of sports viewing is people watching their local team. Without CSN and other regional sports networks, anything posing as a sport-focused entity is a non-starter.
Playstation Vue already offers all of these things. Now it looks like Hulu will offer them as part of their (surprise!) bundle.