• by Wayne Friedman , May 1, 2017

NBCUniversal has joined the other major owners of big TV networks, signing onto a new live, linear TV service from Hulu.

NBC networks included in the service are NBC, Telemundo, USA, Syfy, Bravo, E!, MSNBC, CNBC and NBCSN.

Walt Disney Co, 21st Century Fox and Time Warner all signed on in January for the new service, expected to be launched later this year. CBS also signed on in January. More recently, Hulu also made a deal with A+E Networks.

Disney (through Disney-ABC Television), Fox and NBCU are each 30% equity owners of Hulu; Time Warner owns a 10% stake.

Hulu says the new live, linear TV service will include more than 50 channels at launch, “for under $40,” stated Mike Hopkins, CFO of Hulu.

As part of the deal — as with virtually all other TV network deals with pay TV providers — Hulu will get sell two minutes of local TV advertising time per hour.

Hulu looks to compete with Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and YouTube TV in the space for a live, linear digital packager of TV networks.