With T-Mobile offering free Netflix and AT&T offering free HBO, Sprint now has an answer to its rival carriers with the announcement of free Hulu subscriptions bundled with the company's Unlimited Freedom plans.
Hulu has been expanding its reach and was actually the first video streaming app to arrive to the Nintendo Switch. Hulu beat Netflix to it, and it is hoping to find similar success against its rival service through its partnership with Sprint.
Sprint Offers Free Hulu
In the press release announcing the partnership, Sprint said that new and existing customers under the Unlimited Freedom plan will gain access to a Hulu Limited Commercials plan starting Nov. 17.
The Hulu Limited Commercials plan is basically an ad-supported version of the streaming service. Sprint Unlimited Freedom subscribers will be able to watch all Hulu content, including originals such as The Handmaid's Tale and Marvel's Runaways. Hulu recently dropped the price of the plan from $7.99 to $5.99 in response to the Netflix price hike announced last month, but only for a limited time.
Subscribers to Sprint's unlimited data plan will also soon have the option to upgrade to Hulu Live TV plan, which opens up 50 live TV channels along with a cloud-based DVR option. The option costs $39.99 per month, but Sprint did not reveal how much it would cost for its Unlimited Freedom subscribers.
The partnership between Sprint and Hulu takes aim at T-Mobile's offering of a free Netflix plan to its subscribers. The carrier will need to provide all the incentives that it could to attract subscribers, especially after T-Mobile dominated OpenSignal's State of Mobile Networks report in August.
Time To Sign Up For Sprint Unlimited Freedom?
Sprint will not increase the price of its Unlimited Freedom plans with the addition of the free Hulu subscription. It will remain at $25 per line for unlimited calls, text messages, and data, with the fifth line free. The plan will throttle data during times of congestion, but it also includes a mobile hotspot option for up to 10 GB per month.
This Unlimited Freedom price, however, is only valid until Jan. 31, 2019. After that, the price changes to $60 for one line, $40 for the second line, and $30 each for the third to fifth lines.
For customers who have been thinking about signing up with Sprint, the announcement of a free Hulu subscription, even if it is ad-supported, should help with the decision. Those who decide to subscribe to a Sprint Unlimited Freedom plan, however, should make sure that they do so before the prices increase.
