Hulu + Live TV will no longer carry Cubs baseball on the Marquee Network.
Effective immediately, cable-cutters who flocked to Hulu + Live TV for the Chicago Cubs and Marquee Sports Network will be sorely disappointed. Will Hulu subscribers miss the channel? Perhaps – but likely not until spring when flowers bloom, and it’s not on. Admit it. You’re not going to miss it until Cubs baseball comes on – and you can’t watch.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help. The season was postponed until July when Summer Camp kicked off and the regular season didn’t begin until August. It’s been a heck of a year. From donning masks to not wearing one, COVID-19 to Black Lives Matter protests in an election year. To be honest, it’s been a hell of a year.
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Back to Marquee Sports Network. So what do they do now? Good question. Hulu is good for sports – but not for Marquee Sports Network. Let’s face it. They weren’t going to carry it. They announced it five days before it aired on February 17. And October 23, they dropped it. So essentially, eight months.
"“This is certainly disappointing for fans in the Chicago area who subscribed to Hulu given their highly touted sports-first service,” a Cubs spokesman said, noting Marquee’s website lists other services that carry the channel. h/t Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune"
We’re nearing a stretch where there’s no MLB, NBA or NHL action – and that’ll bother some folks. Sinclair Chief Executive Chris Ripley told reporters that 85 percent of Sinclair’s regional sports network (RSN) subscribers were ‘locked in’ the next two years, likely because of Marquee Sports Network. Clearly, that’s not the case for Cubs fans who’d hoped to pass the offseason watching Marquee.
Besides Marquee, several other networks have been affected by it, including YES Network, SportsTime Ohio, Fox Sports Arizona, FS Detroit, FS Florida, FS Midwest (including FS Indiana and FS Kansas City), FS North (including FS Wisconsin) and more.
In the end, Marquee Sports Network is finished on Hulu–for now. Maybe they could sign up long-term during the offseason, but I wouldn’t hang my hat on that.