Hulu is on a spending spree. They are quickly adding exclusive content to establish the service as a major player in the fast growing video streaming market. In the past Hulu was fairly quiet but that has changed this year with the popularity of video streaming services. In April Hulu was able to outbid Netflix, Amazon, and Yahoo for exclusive rights to stream Seinfeld. The Seinfeld deal cost Hulu $875,000 an episode which will add up to over $160 million. That’s an impressive amount but it’s well behind Hulu’s new 3-year deal with Viacom to exclusively stream South Park. The South Park deal will cost Hulu $192 million which may be worth it considering the popularity of the show. Hulu is counting on both the South Park and Seinfeld deals to elevate their brand.
What can Hulu members expect from the South Park deal? For starters the new deal will mean South Park will continue through 2019 and pass 300 episodes. Comedy Central will continue to televise the show. The Hulu deal gives them exclusive streaming rights to the show for three years. You can expect the new South Park episodes to start on Comedy Central and Hulu on July 12th. The new contract will give Hulu members exclusive access to stream 30 new South Park episodes ending in 2019. That’s a lot of laughs for Hulu viewers and will open the service up to a large and ever growing number of South Park fans.
Hulu is backed by some of the biggest names in television including NBC Universal, Fox, and Disney (ABC, ESPN). The service has had issues over the years but as streaming is catching fire Hulu’s backers are spending whatever it takes to compete with the other big players – Netflix and Amazon. The list of competitors in the space continues to grow with the addition of Sling TV, CBS All Access, HBO Now, and Showtime OTT services launching so far this year. Gaining the exclusive rights to stream popular shows like Seinfeld and South Park will cost Hulu over $350 million. That’s a big gamble but one that an increasing number of companies are willing to take to gain market share.
Those in the United States can sign up for Hulu for just $7.99 a month. If you live outside the U. S. or plan to travel abroad then you will want to use a Smart DNS service. Otherwise Hulu will block your access. They do so by looking at your IP address location. If you aren’t coming from the U. S. then Hulu will block you from streaming videos. A good Smart DNS service will help you knock down the geographic barriers and give you access to Hulu from anywhere in the world.