Hulu has renewed its distribution deal with Viacom, under which the Internet TV service will expand its kids’ lineup with additional shows from Nickelodeon including Spanish-language versions of “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Under the pact, Hulu will continue to stream Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and the final season of “The Colbert Report,” which the service has offered since 2011, and will refresh the content library of past seasons from across Viacom’s portfolio of cable nets.
In addition, Hulu will be adding titles from Nickelodeon to its Hulu Kids offering including older series such as “Invader Zim,” “The Ren & Stimpy Show,” “Drake & Josh” and “Hey Arnold!” as well as some Latino programming for kids including “SpongeBob” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” in Spanish.
However, Amazon.com still has a much greater selection of Viacom content overall, available through Prime Instant Video under its deal last year with the media company. That includes exclusive subscription VOD rights to past seasons of kids’ programming such as “Bubble Guppies,” “The Backyardigans,” “Team Umizoomi,” “Blue’s Clues” and “Victorious.”
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The deal will continue to give Hulu a selection of in-season programming from across Viacom’s networks, Craig Erwich, Hulu’s SVP and head of content wrote in a blog post. That includes MTV scripted series “Awkward,” “Happyland” and others, which will continue to be available to stream the day after new episodes air, with other shows available 21 days after broadcast.
Hulu also will add select scripted series including Comedy Central’s “Workaholics,” MTV’s “Faking It” and TVLand’s “Hot in Cleveland.”
And over the next several weeks, Hulu will refresh content from past seasons of Viacom shows. That includes full seasons of Comedy’s “Key & Peele,” “Drunk History,” “Ridiculousness,” “Tosh.0,” “Kroll Show” and “Inside Amy Schumer”; MTV’s “Catfish,” “Ink Master,” “16 & Pregnant,” “Teen Mom 2,” “Snooki & JWoww,” “The Hills” and “The Jersey Shore”; and VH1’s “Basketball Wives,” “Love & Hip Hop” and “Mob Wives.”
Hulu is a joint venture of Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast’s NBCUniversal. The company has 6 million subscribers for Hulu Plus, its $7.99-per-month service that provides multiscreen access to 100,000-plus TV show episodes and 5,400 movies.
