Hulu is taking one giant leap forward in terms of bringing content to their site. Variety has reported that Hulu and CBS have come to an agreement to stream their shows on the site. The deal not only includes CBS shows in general, but also any of the shows that fall under the CBS ownership, including Showtime.
Hulu already allows subscribers to get Showtime for an additional fee each month.
The live TV service will be priced under $40 and the price isn’t likely to change after an introductory period. DirecTV Now was criticized for advertising a $35 fee that went up to $60 after a trial period was up.
Hulu’s CEO Mike Hopkins made the announcement on Tuesday at Citi’s 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas, saying “We’re going to try to keep our pricing pretty simple. Under $40, that’s going to be the price.”
Hopkins touted the newest feature to Hulu, saying “We think that’s unique in the marketplace and gives us confidence we’ll be successful.”
After the deal was announced, Ray Hopkins, president of television networks distribution at CBS, spoke to Yahoo TV, saying “Hulu has made it clear that it understands the value that the CBS Television Network, along with Showtime and our basic cable network portfolio, will bring to this new offering. In addition, today’s announcement represents another significant step in our strategy to deliver CBS’ industry leading content to viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch it, at terms that are consistent with the company’s goals.”
Other networks that could be part of the package in the future include the CW, Smithsonian and Pop, though the CW and Smithsonian may be added at a later date because CBS co-owns the networks instead of outright owning them.
There isn’t an exact date of when the live stream of TV shows, but it’s expected to roll out at some point in the first quarter of the new year, which means it will be available at some point from the beginning of January to the end of March.
CBS will still have full seasons of their primetime shows available on CBS All Access, where new CBS shows and older CBS shows are available to stream for a monthly rate of $5.99. For $9.99 a month, viewers will be able to watch their shows commercial free.
To keep people subscribed to CBS All Access, CBS is likely to offer only a limited number of episodes from their shows available from streaming on Hulu, which some networks already do.