Hulu chief to Sony TV
October 25, 2017
The CEO of Hulu, Mike Hopkins, is leaving to become chairman of Sony Pictures Television. Randy Freer, a member of the Hulu board, will succeed him.
Freer, the Fox Networks Group’s chief operating officer and previously a co-president at Fox Sports, will take over the Hulu job straightaway.
The change comes as Hulu’s parent companies — including Comcast, Disney, Time Warner and 21st Century Fox — are making a more concerted effort to sell Hulu the back libraries of their shows, rather than making similar deals with Netflix.
Hulu last disclosed its total number of subscribers 17 months ago; at the time, the figure stood at 12 million. It is unclear whether subscriber growth has slowed, or how well its live television service is faring. Netflix announced last week that it now has 51 million paying subscribers in the US.