The online streaming company has been vary touch and go in the press for years now, with industry experts seeming to predict its demise every other month. But up to this point, Hulu has hung on based probably on its cult-like viewers scrambling to watch their favorite shows.
After Hulu got noticed around 2009, News Corp. (parent of Fox), Disney, and NBC Universal invested in the company. The main reason for the investment being supplemental income from next day viewers and a way do legally distribute content online. Fast forward to today... NBC, Fox, and ABC (of whom Disney is the parent company) now all have their own online viewing platforms and apps for tablets and smartphones. But Hulu is still hanging in their based on the contracts they already have and the fact that another major investment party, Providence Equity Partners. Some of the stipulations that Hulu still retains from the networks include next day airing of major shows, back catalogs of entire series, etc.
But coming soon in September, Providence Equity Partners is being bought out by the remaining investors. This translates to all the networks owning the major share in Hulu. This also means big changes are most likely coming to Hulu created by the networks.
Examples include:
Allowing the networks to license content to other parties. No more content exclusivity.
Content Filtering. Networks can now pick and choose which content to distinguish their own sites from Hulu.
Fox wants at least 4 commercials per break online.
NBC cannot vote or participate in any changes to the site as part of the agreement made by Comcast to buy the network.
Only time will tell if Hulu will continue to evolve into the new form of television, but in my opinion, this is one huge step backward, making the .com more like regular television, which already sucks.
Networks! Please leave our internet alone!
Read More @ Variety
Read More @ Gizmodo
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