Hulu Owners Cancel Sale Give $750 Million Infusion to Keep Things As Is Monday Jul 15 2013 08:34 EDT Hulu owners Disney, 21st Century Fox and NBC Universal have decided to scrap the sale of the Internet video service, deciding instead to give the company a large $750 million cash infusion to ensure that Hulu lives on. The sale cancellation suggests that Hulu's owners believed that bids for the service, many of which came from ISPs like AT&T, Dish, and Time Warner Cable, were too low (granted bids were too low because most bidders realized that after purchase they'd need to renew most of Hulu's expiring content licenses). Keeping things as is certainly does little to fix Hulu's biggest problems: its cable and broadcast owners perpetually hamstring the company to prevent it from being truly disruptive. That's why Hulu's core executive team left, and that's why Hulu will continue to be little more than a glorified ad for traditional cable television, no matter what kind of cash infusion gets thrown its direction. |
  tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA |
tshirt
Premium Member
2013-Jul-15 9:25 am
Yup, still not intended to be......truly disruptive of the owners existing CATV businesses. Think of it as a stepping stone towards a more IPTV world.
even the ownership would give it up/start over for $2billion, but aren't willing to give it away.
The cash infusion should be good for viewers keeping at least the same level of programming, maybe even a little bit more new stuff. | |
|  | silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA |
silbaco
Premium Member
2013-Jul-15 10:56 am
Re: Yup, still not intended to be...Their programming needs some help. There are way too few previous seasons available to Hulu Plus subscribers. | |
| | | tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA |
tshirt
Premium Member
2013-Jul-15 11:32 am
Re: Yup, still not intended to be...Now they have some cash to buy lots more seasons of reruns OR another couple newer/first run shows.
People greatly discount the value of the huge libraries of reruns/rights still under control of the networks and/or original producers, but look how many little local stations and now second run CATV networks have been spawned/survived for years on stuff you probably saw before. | |
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 GlennLouEarl3 brothers, 1 gone
Premium Member
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA |
Due to lack of interestthis class sale has been cancelled.
hulu... pay 'em the fee, but you still have all of the commercials (which, granted, is still less than when watching the shows "at the source") and you still can't watch the huge majority of shows on your TV (at least, not when using "hulu-approved" methods). Really, how many other services can you name where paying the fee gets you nothing? | |
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Corehhi
Member
2013-Jul-15 11:07 am
Really???What on earth did they think HULU was worth???? I guess the paln was to sell it for billions then turn around and screw the new owners for the rights to the programing????
I just don't see much value in HULU at all. | |
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PerformanceI like how with Hulu Plus during prime time hours the video playback is flawless, but the ads stop, buffer, and refresh every 2 seconds turning a 30 second ad into an 8 minute ordeal. | |
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JamminRS
Anon
2013-Jul-15 11:13 pm
Plus...negativeSo, I'm one of those 'cut the [tv] cord' folks.
I got a Roku.
Got Hulu Plus figuring it would help me with some of the shows I can't get on my OTA Tivo DVR.
Nope.
Shows I liked seemed to be too many 'web only' shows.
Too many 'sorry, this episode expired' (sometimes short days after it aired).
Wasn't worth the money for what I was getting. Same reason I cut tv cord.
So, yeah, Hulu..."we're just making you think we're trying to modernize our business model"
"we tried, but no one was interested...darn pirates!" | |
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