Hulu's live TV service hits 800K subscriber mark in first year
Milestone comes a month after Hulu said its streaming service had 20 million subscribers.
Hulu Chief Executive Officer Randy Freer says its live-TV service has more than 800,000 subscribers.
Hulu's live-TV streaming service has signed up more than 800,000 subscribers, CEO Randy Freer told CNBC on Wednesday.
The disclosure, the first Hulu has made about the service's subscriptions, comes about a year after the launch of the $40-a-month "skinny bundle," which adds more than 50 live channels to its Netflix-like tier for on-demand shows and movies.
Hulu competes in a growing stable of digital live-TV providers, including Dish's Sling TV, Sony's PlayStation Vue, AT&T's DirecTV Now and most recently YouTube TV. But Hulu sets itself apart from the rest of the pack by also offering a library of on-demand shows and movies it has been cultivating for a decade.
The service offers all the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), sports channels such as ESPN, cable networks like TBS and HGTV and 24-hour news like CNN and Fox News. It also has options for children, such as the Disney Channel, and some local TV affiliates.
Subscribers of the live-TV streaming service are spending an average of 100 hours on the service each month, Freer said.
Earlier this month, Hulu revealed that its video-streaming service had passed 20 million subscribers, adding 3 million since the end of last year. By comparison, Netflix, the biggest streaming-video service in the world by subscribers, said it has 57 million members in the US, where Hulu operates, and 125 million subscribers globally as of the end of March.
Hulu didn't immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
CNET's Joan E. Solsman contributed to this report.
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