Hulu lands five-year deal with The CW for current TV
updated 04:45 pm EDT, Fri October 28, 2011
Hulu makes deal with The CW for this year's shows
Online TV and movie service Hulu has just secured a five-year deal with The CW for rights to stream its in-season episodes. The CW is a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros. Under the deal, the five most recent episodes of each show will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers the next day after broadcast. Those who use the free, ad-supported Hulu service can watch the same five episodes eight days after they originally air on The CW.
The deal includes nine shows on the CW's fall schedule, including the new Ringer, Hart of Dixie and The Secret Circle along with returning show The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Nikita, 90210 and America’s Next Top Model.
The financial details of the deal weren't disclosed, but the numbers are likely to be much lower than those of the recently inked Netflix deal CW made. The Netflix agreement is believed to be worth nearly $1 billion and will grant users access to multiple years'-worth of shows rather than just the one year for Hulu users.
