Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hulu in Oz speaking with the locals

Paul McIntyre reports on the SMH that Hulu is in AU at the moment speaking with local broadcasters.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/networks-plot-online-video-assault-20080730-3ned.html?page=1

Interesting outtake - "the sticking point will be whether the US venture is prepared to enter a 50-50 equity venture with Australian broadcasters."

I'm unsure why Hulu would do this, given (and this is an assumption) US content is what will drive Hulu usage - and most of it is already owned by Fox or NBCU. I'd argue Hulu could enter the AU market without partnering with the local networks if they could structure their broadcast deals over here to allow this.

The AU FTA's could try and do their own video play like Hulu, but they'd be severely limited with the content they could place on there. Im not sure what the demand would be for reruns of Rove and Farmer Wants A Wife. The most compelling content would be ABC content - and thats already available en masse online through their site.

I, for one, would love to see Hulu come to AU. I think it's revolutionary.

2 comments:

Mike Robertson said...

Agreed. I would support it. I checked with the senior bods here and the meeting did actually happen and Hulu is def. on the agenda

Pai Rico said...

Playing nice with the natives?

All "TV 2.0" company I've ever talked to would love to get some kind of
partnership with local players when joining a new market.

cheers