Hulu to Open 500-Employee San Antonio Customer Service Center
Hulu is coming to the Lone Star State: The streaming player plans to move its customer-support headquarters to a new facility in San Antonio, Texas, later this year.
The facility will open later in 2017, pending final lease negotiations as well as tax-incentive agreements and approvals from the City of San Antonio. Hulu’s new Viewer Experience Operations headquarters will bring more than 300 jobs to San Antonio this year, with more than 500 total employees projected in 2018.
Hulu currently has 150 customer-service reps who work remotely, and the majority of those roles move to the new Texas location. The company didn’t specify how many employees will be relocated.
All of Hulu’s customer-focused functions will be housed in the San Antonio facility, including customer support, service and network operations. The company said the move will substantially increase its customer support capabilities as the Hulu rolls out its new live TV service, expected sometime this spring.
“With its vibrant culture and large and diverse talent pool, we’re incredibly excited to partner with the city to make San Antonio home to our viewer experience operations,” Ben Smith, Hulu’s head of experience, said in a statement.
Officials from San Antonio visited Hulu’s Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters a few weeks ago to discuss the terms of the company’s customer-service center in the city. San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor lauded Hulu for its decision to keep jobs in the U.S. — and, of course, her city in particular — instead of moving them overseas.
“As a leader in the tech industry, Hulu’s decision to grow here is a testament to our city’s growing tech industry and our skilled and talented workforce, which were both heavily emphasized during our visit with the company’s leadership,” Taylor said in a statement.
The Hulu operations center will provide 24-hour phone, email, chat and social support. In addition, the new San Antonio operations HQ will let customer-service reps proactively reach out to customers and conduct account analysis, the company said.
Hulu’s owners are Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast — each of which holds a 30% stake — and Time Warner, which owns 10% of the company.
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