Nexstar Media Group announced that it has come to terms on a new licensing deal with Hulu that will see the return to the streaming company’s virtual MVPD of 20 ABC affiliates, as well as the addition of cable channel WGN America.
The outlets had been off Hulu + Live TV since October. The vMVPD had supplanted the affiliates with the ABC network national feed in affected markets.
Among the markets impacted were in Nashville (WKRN), Hartford (WTNH), Grand Rapids (WOTV), Harrisburg (WHTM), New Orleans (WGNO), and Richmond (WRIC).
With the deal with Disney-controlled Hulu, Nexstar-owned WGN America will add 4 million subscriber homes to its portfolio. Nexstar recently carved out carriage of the channel with YouTube TV and fuboTV, as well. WGN is now distributed to about 75 million pay TV homes.
“We are very pleased to reach an agreement with one of the country’s premier live TV streaming services and we’re looking forward to making our entertainment content and NewsNation available to 4 million new subscribers throughout the country,” said Sean Compton, president of Nexstar's network division, in a statement.
Nexstar still has 164 of its stations in 115 markets blacked out on Dish Network-owned platforms.
