ViacomCBS Announces Expanded Distribution Agreement with Hulu
New Deal Brings 14 Additional ViacomCBS Cable Networks to Hulu + Live TV, Including Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and MTV
NEW YORK, NY.--January 04, 2021--ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC) today
announced a new distribution agreement that adds more content from ViacomCBS’ leading portfolio of news, entertainment and sports networks to Hulu’s live TV subscription streaming service, Hulu + Live TV.
The comprehensive, multi-year deal includes continued carriage of CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW, as well as continued distribution of ViacomCBS’ premium subscription service, SHOWTIME®. The deal will also introduce fourteen additional ViacomCBS networks to Hulu + Live TV, including Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic.
“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.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About ViacomCBS
ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, its portfolio includes CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS All Access, Pluto TV and Simon & Schuster, among others. The company delivers the largest share of the US television audience and boasts one of the industry’s most important and extensive libraries of TV and film titles. In addition to offering innovative streaming services and digital video products, ViacomCBS provides powerful capabilities in production, distribution and advertising solutions for partners on five continents.
For more information about ViacomCBS, please visit
www.viacomcbs.com and follow @ViacomCBS on social platforms.
VIAC-IR
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ViacomCBS Sets Expanded Distribution Deal With Disney’s Hulu + Live TV
ViacomCBS has set an expanded distribution deal with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV, which is now the fifth-largest U.S. pay-TV provider.
Financial terms of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed. It continues carriage for CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and the CW, as well as Showtime’s pay streaming service. The deal also adds BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic to the streaming bundle.
Disney reported last November that Hulu + Live TV, which launched in 2017, has 4.1 million subscribers, making it the No. 5 U.S. pay-TV distributor. It is the leader in the internet-delivered bundle sector, ahead of YouTube TV and Sling TV, its closest rivals.
Since the merger of Viacom and CBS in December 2018, the combined company has secured distribution deals with YouTube TV as well as Comcast, Dish and Verizon, plus affiliate deals with major station owners Nexstar, Meredith, Cox and Sinclair. When CEO Bob Bakish took the helm at Viacom several years ago, he made distribution a priority after it had languished under predecessor Philippe Dauman.
All major TV programmers face increasing pressure on distribution and advertising revenue from their legacy linear networks. Like its peers, ViacomCBS is increasingly emphasizing streaming, planning to roll out a rebranded Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) later this year as it manages through ongoing declines in viewership and advertising in the traditional pay-TV bundle.
“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.”
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MTV, Nickelodeon Added to Hulu Live TV Bundle in Expansive ViacomCBS Deal
Channels including BET, Comedy Central and Paramount Network will also join the streamer's live television offering.
ViacomCBS has reached an agreement with Hulu to distribution its portfolio of cable channels on via streamer's live television bundle.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, means that channels including BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Network will be available through the Hulu + Live TV bundle for the first time. It also includes continued carriage of CBS, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and The CW. Premium cable channel Showtime also remains available as an add-on for Hulu live TV subscribers.
"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," ViacomCBS U.S. Networks Distribution president Ray Hopkins said in a statement.
When Hulu launched its live TV bundle in 2017, it did so without Viacom's portfolio of cable channels. At the time, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish had said that the company would be "highly selective" about its streaming distribution partners going forward. But in the three years since, streaming has become a primary means of watching entertainment programming in the U.S. In May 2020, Viacom CBS inked a carriage agreement with YouTube TV to carry its cable channels.
With the Hulu deal, ViacomCBS is now carried on all major over-the-top live TV bundles. Disney-owned Hulu has more than 4 million subscribers to its live TV bundle. The streamer, which has nearly 39 million total subscribers, recently increased the cost of a live TV subscription from $55 to $65.
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Hulu Inks ViacomCBS Deal to Add 14 Cable Networks to Live TV Package
Disney’s Hulu + Live TV subscribers will — finally — get Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, BET and other legacy Viacom cable channels as part of their lineup.
ViacomCBS announced a new multiyear distribution agreement with Hulu, under which Hulu’s live TV subscription streaming service will add 14 cable networks: BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic. The companies declined to specify the date when those networks will be available to Hulu + Live TV customers.
Hulu’s live TV package has lacked the legacy-Viacom nets ever since its spring 2017 debut. ViacomCBS’s agreement with Hulu comes after the media conglomerate secured a similar deal last spring with Google’s YouTube TV, which also had not previously carried the 14 cable networks. In ViacomCBS’s first year as a combined company, it also has inked renewals with pay-TV providers including Comcast, Dish Network and Verizon.
The 14 Viacom channels are joining Hulu + Live TV after Disney hiked rates for the internet pay-TV package by $10 per month as of Dec. 18, 2020. Under the new pricing, the baseline Hulu + Live TV tier with ad-supported VOD rose to $64.99 per month, an 18% increase.
The multiyear pact between ViacomCBS and Disney-controlled Hulu includes continued carriage in the live TV service of CBS broadcast stations, as well as CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and the CW, as well as continued distribution of Showtime as an add-on.
“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,” Ray Hopkins, ViacomCBS president of U.S. networks distribution, said in a statement.
At its investor day last month, Disney said Hulu had 38.8 million subscribers as of Dec. 2, including more than 4.1 million live TV customers. That’s up from 30.4 million subs overall (including 3.2 million with live TV) at the end of 2019.
Notably, Disney and ViacomCBS are both competing for share in the growing direct-to-consumer subscription space. In early 2021, ViacomCBS is gearing up for the rebranding of CBS All Access as Paramount Plus.
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Hulu + Live TV adds Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and more ViacomCBS networks
Hulu + Live TV is expanding its agreement with ViacomCBS to include 14 additional networks including Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Paramount Network.
The new multi-year deal includes continued carriage of CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW along with continued distribution of Showtime. The deal also introduces additional channels including VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic.
“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, in a statement. “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.”
The channel lineup expansion arrives not long after Hulu + Live TV raised its monthly price from $55 to $65 – the cost of Hulu with no ads plus live TV increased from $61/month to $71/month. The price hike brought Hulu’s rates in line with competitors including YouTube TV and fuboTV.
Hulu + Live TV ended the third quarter of 2020 with 4.1 million subscribers, making it the largest U.S. virtual MVPD and bigger than many traditional MVPDs including Verizon Fios.
After a sequential slowdown, Hulu + Live TV picked up speed and added 700,000 subscribers in the third quarter, up 41% year over year. Disney said average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for the Hulu + Live TV rose from $58.82 to $71.90 year over year thanks to a retail pricing increase and higher live TV per-subscriber advertising revenue.
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More Nick: ViacomCBS to Rebrand CBS All Access as Paramount+ in Early 2021!
