Hulu's backers bicker as Web video soars [CNET News]
CNET reports on a story from Mediaweek about controversy among the stakeholders of Hulu, the popular online, long-form video site. According to Mediaweek, the controversy is emanating from a fundamental disagreement between the site's content partners at Fox, Disney and NBC Universal about Hulu's future revenue model. Several executives at News Corp., owners of Fox, including Chairman Rupert Murdoch, have sent not-so-subtle hints recently about their desire to turn Hulu into a subscription-based service for users.
Currently, the online venture is ad-supported, but the Mediaweek report indicates that Hulu's ad sales aren't keeping pace with its tremendous growth in viewership over the past year. Mediaweek's story also indicates that the site's revenue-sharing structure for its content partners and Hulu's ad sales staff has created friction between Hulu and its content partners. CNET's recounts how Hulu trumpeted the selling-out of available advertising time in 2008, but didn't issue a similar announcement this year, lending credence to the concerns about ad sales not living up to expectations.
Further complicating the picture is the impending sale of NBC Universal from GE to Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, which is planning to launch its own online video portal for cable and broadband customers next month. There's obviously some debate about whether NBC Universal content continues to be available freely on Hulu after that deal is finalized.
Hulu was the first on the scene in this new media landscape of online viewing of television and movie content. While it's unclear what the future holds for the site, it appears likely that changes are afoot for Hulu in the next year.
How rich does Rupert Murdoch need to be? He already had the number 1 fake news channel on cable.
Posted by: Rob Jones | Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 03:33 PM