Hulu Live to Offer NFL RedZone and NFL Network
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RedZone is coming to another streaming service. It was announced earlier this week that Hulu had been granted access to carry both NFL RedZone and NFL Network on its live television service. Subscribers will gain access to both starting August 1st, which means that the 2021 NFL Season will be included on RedZone with Hulu TV.
Deal Details
According to the NFL press release, this was a multi-year deal that will bring the famous NFL RedZone and NFL Network to Hulu’s live TV subscription. The financials of the deal were not disclosed, but based on how much TV stations are paying for live games with the new TV contract, one would not be surprised to see that the deal reached 9 to 10 figures.
The NFL provided quotes from Hans Schroeder, who is the Chief Operating Officer for the NFL’s Media department, on its press release. “One of our top priorities as a League remains broadening the distribution platforms for NFL content.” It seems that the NFL is catching up on the times and attempting to make a larger presence felt in the streaming world. It is important for the NFL to balance its outreach and incoming revenue. The more exclusive NFL games are to watch, the more they can get out of providers, but they still need to reach as many fans as possible.
NFL RedZone & NFL Sunday Ticket
For those unfamiliar, NFL RedZone is a service that was previously only provided on NFL Sunday Ticket. However, over the years it has now expanded to Youtube TV, Fubo TV, Hulu TV, and many other packages. NFL RedZone covers live games as they are going on and is the main way general NFL fans watch the games on Sunday. It is constant action as the channel skips from game to game to show as much action and meaningful plays as possible. It also will show highlights of any big or scoring plays that you missed.
With the NFL expanding so heavily into the online streaming game, it has brought in rumors that NFL Sunday Ticket could be moving to an online streaming service. NFL Sunday Ticket is the only way to watch every single live NFL game & it includes RedZone as well as other NFL-related channels for game day. Currently, DirectTV holds the rights to RedZone, but the deal is due to be up for renewal at the end of the 2021 season.
Many rumors surround ESPN+ as the front-runner to take over NFL Sunday Ticket. As cord-cutting becomes more and more normal, it would make sense for the NFL to move to a service in which everyone, even those without a cable/satellite TV provider, can use. However, without NFL Sunday Ticket, DirectTV would take a massive hit, and there is no way that there is not an intense bidding processing going on for the rights.
Only time will tell if Sunday Ticket follows in RedZone’s footsteps and becomes available via an online streaming service. For now, it seems that DirectTV will have Sunday Ticket going forward for the 2021 season.
