Ha! Hulu Hands it to Sinclair

Sinclair tried to play hardball with streaming service Hulu and they lost…big time.

Bloomberg writes that Sinclair had refused to let Hulu offer live CBS programming in two dozen markets across the U.S. unless the online TV platform also agreed to carry another Sinclair property, the Tennis Channel.

But Hulu instead reached a deal with CBS Corp. to offer a national feed of the network in the markets where Sinclair operates a local affiliate.

“The goal is to provide our network to 100 percent of the country,” Ray Hopkins, CBS’s head of distribution, said in an interview.

Hopkins said CBS has given Hulu and Sinclair a year and a half to work out their disagreement, and could wait no longer. The fall TV season begins in the coming weeks, and the college football season, which provides some of the most-watched events on CBS, started a couple weeks ago.

Sinclair can opt in to the live TV service at any time. The Hunt Valley, Maryland-based company declined to comment on the dispute.

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