Worst Timing Ever? Marquee Sports Network Went Live on Hulu Thursday
Marquee Sports Network can’t seem to catch a break even when it gets something right with a carriage arrangement. Though initially viewed as a huge win just prior to the network’s launch, the deal with Hulu quickly turned into a buzzkill when it was revealed that it might not go live until Opening Day. But in a fortunate turn of events, Hulu+Live subscribers learned Thursday that they’d actually got Marquee two weeks ahead of schedule.
The monkey’s paw twist is that it went live on the very day MLB announced that spring training has been suspended indefinitely with Opening Day pushed at least two weeks. We’ll know more about the specifics as this thing unfolds, but the very nature of dealing with a pathogen like COVID-19 is that there’s really no way to set a concrete plan right out of the gate.
Marquee is finally available on Hulu + Live TV @DEvanAltman
— Jordan Campbell (@CampbellJordan_) March 12, 2020
The one thing we know for certain is that there will be no baseball in Chicago until at least May 1, as Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced at a Thursday press conference. The Cubs are going to have to work something out if the season starts back up before then, though it’s likely they’ll lop off some of the schedule and hold an abbreviated spring training to ramp back up when they do decide to get going again.
Thanks for reaching out, Evan! The channel launched on Hulu + Live TV today, so if you live in an area that receives Chicago regional sports networks you’ll be able to watch it. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you!
— Hulu Support (@hulu_support) March 12, 2020
As for Hulu+Live, well, the timing could not have been worse. The same might not be true for Marquee, which suddenly gets a lot more runway to get more carriage deals off the ground. To be clear, this isn’t a good thing by any stretch and it removes even more of the leverage the network may have had left in its negotiations with carriers. But perhaps the desperation will mean getting Marquee out to a majority of fans by the time games do start back up.
In the meantime, I hope you really like the Kerry Wood 20-strikeout game. I mean really really like it, because you’re going to see it a lot over the next month.
