Hulu

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 10:58am on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Hulu and Viacom Part Ways

The New York Times reported on March 2, 2010:

"In the first major fracture between television show owners and the wildly popular Hulu.com, Viacom will remove “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and other Comedy Central programs from the video site next week.

The companies said Tuesday evening that they were parting amicably, but Viacom’s decision is a serious loss for Hulu. This week “The Daily Show” is listed as the third-most-watched show on the site, behind “Lost” and “Family Guy.” The decision also highlights the large gulf between the expectations of consumers — who demand a wealth of free and easily accessible content on the Internet — and the media companies, who are seeking a more profitable business model online.

“We tried to reach a deal. We got close. We continued to talk even over the weekend. But we could not agree on a price,” said a person involved in the Viacom negotiations who requested anonymity because the process was conducted in private."

The full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/business/media/03hulu.html

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 7:00am on Monday, March 1st, 2010

Meet Hulu, the Ad Agency You've Never Heard Of

The Big Money/Slate reported on February 26, 2010:

"Here’s what’s well-known about Hulu and ads. 1) It supports itself with the stuff. 2) Sometimes it stars in its own ads.

Less known: Hulu creates advertisements for its own advertisers.

ING Direct, the personal investment arm of financial giant ING, began a monthlong ad deal with Hulu this week. There are many moving pieces to the deal, but the centerpiece is a 15-second spot that is airing across the site. It features ING Direct’s logo, an orange ball, that bounces down a hallway. There it comes across a flat-lined EKG monitor. It touches the monitor and the patient’s heartrate suddenly returns to normal as a Batman-esque “Save” action bubble floats next to the EKG reading. Later, the ball does the same to a burning stovetop, containing the fire and rescuing the kitchen. As the ad closes it flashes the company’s slogan: “Rescue your savings.”

The full story:
http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/hulucination/2010/02/26/hulu-ad-agency-you-ve-never-heard

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 9:34am on Monday, February 8th, 2010

NBC Removes All Conan-Hosted "Tonight Show" Episodes from Hulu, NBC.com

MediaMemo reported on February 6, 2010:

"Remember the whole Conan O’Brien/Jay Leno imbroglio from last month? Perhaps NBC wishes you didn’t. The GE unit has removed every episode of the show’s seven-month run from its NBC.com site, as well as Hulu, the site NBC owns with News Corp.’s Fox and Disney’s ABC.

A little odd, given that a couple of days ago, the network was offering every single “Tonight Show” episode O’Brien had taped on NBC.com. But then again, everything about this story has been odd. NBC declined to comment.

Less surprising is news that O’Brien’s image has been scrubbed, Soviet-style, from NBC’s 30 Rock headquarters."

The full story:
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100206/conan-who-nbc-disappears-the-tonight-show-from-the-web/

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 1:52pm on Friday, January 22nd, 2010

"Free" May Become "Fee" at Hulu

The Los Angeles Times reported on January 21, 2010:

"The Internet video site is weighing plans to charge users to watch episodes of "30 Rock," "Modern Family" and "House." The move would mark a sharp change of course for the venture, which was launched nearly two years ago by a consortium of studios to distribute without charge TV shows and movies over the Internet.

The site has spent months studying how to strike a balance between what people expect to watch free online and what they would be willing to pay for, said people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

One plan being considered would allow users to view the five most recent episodes of TV shows free but would require a subscription of $4.99 a month to watch older episodes."

The full story:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-newhulu21-2010jan21,0,1871796.story