Hulu Live Stream Pricing Revealed

Ever since Hulu announced that it was planning on bringing a live streaming option to their service, people have been wondering just how much such an offering might cost.

The first rumors were around $40 a month, which would be competitive with traditional cable services, which often end up between $50-100 a month depending on the package details. Analysts at MoffettNathanson are reporting that the streaming service will actually price a bit below $40  and come in closer to $35 per month.

With services like Sling coming in at around $20 a month, it’s not entirely clear how Hulu will end up doing against existing competition for skinnier bundles. But the service has some unique value propositions, especially with its existing relationships with services such as Disney (ABC), FOX and NBC, meaning three of the major networks will be involved with this partnership.

Live streaming of broadcast television is no easy task, as Apple learned in 2015 during their attempt to launch a similar service. For context, Apple spent months trying to negotiate individual deals with the hundreds of network affiliates in an attempt to bring live streaming of things like local news but has yet to find a plan that works. It’s easier to negotiate with the bigger network companies, but individual local broadcasts proved too difficult on a case-by-case basis.

Hulu has been making major strides in customer acquisition as of late, hitting nearly 10 million subscribers in 2016. This is nearly double their six million subscribers in early 2015. While this is still a far cry from the 75 million global Netflix subscribers, Hulu appears to be growing rapidly, while Netflix global growth has slowed.