Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliates have been dropped from the Hulu Plus Live TV lineup in a dispute between the station owner and The Walt Disney Co., which controls Hulu and owns ABC.
Virtual multichannel video programming distributors like Hulu Plus Live, YouTube TV and FuboTV don’t negotiate directly with stations for their retransmission rights. Instead, vMVPD deals are negotiated by the networks, which negotiate terms for their affiliates.
CBS affiliates last month rejected a deal negotiated by CBS and the network replaced the affiliates’ feeds with a national feed of CBS programming.
The process with Hulu and the ABC affiliates is a bit different from the way CBS and its affiliates operate. Disney has a master agreement that affiliates can opt into, but the stations also have the ability to negotiate their own agreements with digital distributors directly.
So far, Disney has not made a national ABC feed available to Hulu, but sources indicated that it is only a matter of time unless negotiations with Sinclair start up again.
“After months of negotiations with Sinclair, we were unable to reach a fair, market-based agreement for the carriage of their local ABC affiliates on Hulu Plus Live TV," a Disney spokepeson said. "While Sinclair chose to withhold their affiliates from the Hulu Plus Live TV channel line-up, impacted subscribers can continue to watch their favorite next day ABC programming such as American Idol, The Bachelor, Abbott Elementary, and Grey’s Anatomy.”
Other major station groups say their ABC affiliates remain on Hulu Plus Live TV, with some indicating that they have opted in to the latest offer from Hulu.
Sources indicated that Sinclair might have tried to negotiate with Hulu separately to get carriage of its Tennis Channel network on Hulu.
Also: CBS-FuboTV Flap Adds to Strains With Affiliates, Analyst Says
Network-affiliated stations have argued that they should be able to negotiate directly with vMVPDs and that regulations regarding retransmission should be changed to accommodate them.
Stations are currently expecting to get a new deal then can opt into from the networks regarding YouTube TV.
Sinclair believes the situation with Hulu is more complicated because Disney owns both ABC and Hulu.
Sinclair renewed its affiliation deal with ABC last year.
Another similar situation could be coming for CBS affiliates because the agreement that makes their signals available to Paramount Plus subscribers will expire this year.
In a statement, Sinclair said: “Last night, Disney-owned Hulu decided to remove all of Sinclair’s stations that are affiliated with the Disney-owned ABC network from their Hulu platform, resulting in hundreds of thousands of households in dozens of markets across America losing access to local news, The Bachelor, American Idol, The Oscars and the upcoming NHL and NBA playoffs airing on their local ABC affiliate.
“We were shocked and dismayed that Hulu removed our stations while in the middle of an active negotiation with no notice to its customers, despite Sinclair’s numerous good faith attempts to negotiate a carriage deal, and multiple unconditional extension offers to keep the stations on Hulu.
“Sinclair calls on ABC, Hulu and its owners at Disney to return to the negotiating table to end this unnecessary blackout and to recommit to protecting local TV and local news, which is a bedrock service for communities across America.
“As a reminder to our loyal viewers, these stations remain available on local cable companies, satellite distributors, other streaming platforms and over the air.” ■
