Sprint has announced a partnership with Hulu in order to give customers unlimited access to Hulu’s Limited Commercial plan. This plan will allow both new and existing customers to stream all the movies and television shows they can imagine – straight to their mobile devices. Is this incentive for you to switch to Sprint if you’re not already with them? Roger Solé, chief marketing officer for Sprint had this to say:
“How people watch their favorite shows, listen to the latest music, and play the most popular games is changing all the time. We’re excited to provide Sprint customers the best in entertainment through our unique partnership with Hulu.”
There is a catch though. There’s always a catch, right? In order to get this deal, you will need to be on Sprint’s Unlimited Freedom Plan. So if you’re already on this plan – you’re in good shape and don’t need to do anything else to get access. If you’re not on the plan, you’re still in luck. It’s one of Sprint’s cheaper “fully unlimited” plans.
Many are skeptical about Sprint’s network reliability. In order to calm those fears, they are offering up some specs. They claim that their average nationwide download speed has increased by 33% year to year. In addition, they claim that in 25 of the top 99 markets in the United States, their download speeds have increased anywhere from 40-100%. They don’t specify where those markets are, but that’s a pretty big increase for the smallest of the big four US carriers.
More and more people are watching TV and movies on their smartphones. Which is why this partnership is incredible. Don’t you agree? We have seen this with Netflix and T-Mobile in the past, as well as AT&T and DirecTV Now. The last isn’t a partnership though. But it’s interesting to see more of these companies coming together to offer this service. Or offer it through one of their own companies.
What does the plan itself look like though? Sprint did not raise its pricing on this Unlimited Freedom plan to account for the cost of the Hulu addition, so there’s no additional cost to the consumer, the companies say. The Sprint plan includes unlimited talk, text, and data at a price of $25 per month per line, and the fifth line is free. The plan also includes a 10 GB mobile hotspot. This pricing is valid until January 31, 2019, at which point it changes to $60 for one line, $40 for the second, and $30 per month for lines three through five, according to the fine print. With an AutoPay discount, HD video streams up to 1080p, music up to 1.5Mbps, gaming up to 8MBpbs.
This deal is beneficial to both Sprint and Hulu. For Sprint, this is a way to make their plan more compelling and gives them a way to compete against other carriers with similar offers – like AT&T as we mentioned earlier. For Hulu, meanwhile, the bundle allows them to monetize the additional subscribers it gains through its advertising business. Hulu is also getting a cut of Sprint’s subscriber revenue – per user/per month. The company did not disclose the terms of that agreement though. It does look like a win-win. So who’s in for this deal?