Hulu is a
website offering ad-supported
streaming video of TV shows and movies from
NBC,
Fox,
ABC, and many other networks and studios. Hulu videos are currently offered only to users in the
United States. In order to ensure that no international users outside the US have access to the videos, Hulu blocks many anonymous proxies, Amazon EC2 IP addresses and virtual private networks . Hulu provides video in
Flash Video format, including many films and shows that are available in 288p, 360p, and
480p. Hulu also provides
web syndication services for other websites including
AOL,
MSN,
MySpace,
Facebook,
Yahoo!, and
Comcast's
fancast.com.
Hulu is a joint venture of NBC Universal (General Electric/Vivendi), Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp) and ABC Inc. (The Walt Disney Company), with funding by Providence Equity Partners, which made a US$100 million equity investment and received a 10% stake.
Name
The name Hulu comes from 2
Mandarin Chinese words,
hulu () "
calabash, bottle gourd" and
hulu () "interactive recording." The company blog explains:
In Mandarin, Hulu has two interesting meanings, each highly relevant to our mission. The primary meaning interested us because it is used in an ancient Chinese proverb that describes the Hulu as the holder of precious things. It literally translates to "gourd," and in ancient times, the Hulu was hollowed out and used to hold precious things. The secondary meaning is "interactive recording." We saw both definitions as appropriate bookends and highly relevant to the mission of Hulu.
History
The Hulu venture was announced in March 2007 with AOL, MSN, Facebook, and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners."
Jason Kilar was named the CEO in June. The name
Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live, with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their email addresses for the upcoming
beta test. In October, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, and later allowed users to invite friends. Hulu launched for public access in the
United States on March 12, 2008. The ad intended to humorously reveal "the shocking secret behind Hulu," portraying the site as being an "evil plot to destroy the world" by suggesting that Baldwin is really an alien in disguise. Advertisements have since aired featuring
Eliza Dushku,
Seth MacFarlane and
Denis Leary.
On April 30, 2009, Disney announced that it would join the venture, purchasing a 27% stake in Hulu. Carey's comment jibes with other News Corp. heads, including Rupert Murdoch who has expressed a desire to charge for content with a number of on-line units.
Early in 2010, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said the service has made a profit in two quarters, and that the company could top $100 million in revenue by summer 2010, more than its income for all of 2009. comScore says monthly video streams reached 903 million in January 2010, over three times the figure for a year earlier, and second only to YouTube.
"Hulu Plus," a monthly subscription service, was launched on June 29, 2010. Like the free version of Hulu, the video available on Hulu Plus also contains commercials. However, it offers subscribers an expanded content library in the form of full seasons and more episodes of shows already available through Hulu. Hulu Plus is available on a wide range of platforms, including any Blu-ray-linked television made by Samsung, Sony, and Vizio, as well as all iOS 4 devices made by Apple, the gaming consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as well as the Roku Streaming Player and WD TV Media Player. As of December 2010, Hulu Plus was announced to coming soon to Blu-ray-enabled Panasonic and LG TVs, as well as the TiVo Premiere set-top box.
Hulu has been identified as a possible candidate for an IPO by 2013. On August 16, 2010, a report revealed that Hulu is planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) which could value the U.S. video viewing site at more than $2 billion.
Features
Hulu distributes video both on its own website and syndicates its hosting to other sites, and allows users to embed Hulu clips on their websites. In addition to NBC, ABC and FOX programs and movies, Hulu carries shows from other networks such as
Current TV,
PBS,
USA Network,
Bravo,
Fuel TV,
FX,
NFL Network,
Speed,
Big Ten Network,
Syfy,
Style,
Sundance,
E!,
G4,
Versus,
A&E;,
Oxygen and online comedy sources such as
Onion News Network. Each supplier gets 50 to 70 percent of advertising revenue resulting from its content. and
Warner Music Group in December 2009.
In early March 2010, headlines were made when Viacom announced that they were pulling two of the website's most popular shows, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, off Hulu.
Hulu on TV
Consumers can now also watch Hulu on their TVs by simply connecting a computer with a streaming capable
video card to the TV via
HDMI or
other connection. Additionally, the Hulu Plus service, fully launched in November 2010, allows first-party access to Hulu from a variety of Blu-Ray linked TVs, iOS devices, gaming consoles, and set-top boxes.
In late June 2010, it was announced that a version of Hulu would be available to the iTunes App Store for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS4 or higher. Viewing the content on Hulu, however, requires a subscription.
On November 2010, Orb Networks announced the Orb TV box which streams Hulu on the TV for free.
Hulu Desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
Hulu has released a beta version of Hulu Desktop, a standalone program for watching Hulu programming without a web browser. The program uses a
10-foot user interface and is designed to be compatible with existing computer remote controls. It requires a Flash player and runs on
Windows,
Linux, and
Mac OS X. Hulu Desktop does not currently support all content accessed through normal browser means.
Hulu on Tablet (iPad)
Hulu Plus, the monthly subscription package, unlocks the iPad application that allows streaming of some, but not all Hulu content from Wi-Fi and Wireless data networks via a dedicated iPad app.
Hulu on Smartphone (iOS)
Hulu Plus, the monthly subscription package, unlocks the iPhone and iPod application that allows streaming all Hulu content from Wi-Fi and Wireless data networks via a dedicated app users may download freely.
Content
Hulu includes programming from several sources, including:
Networks and channels
Fox
NBC
ABC
ABC Family
The Biography Channel
MTV Networks: MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, TV Land, Spike, Country Music Television, Logo, Tempo, Epix
National Geographic Channel
Producers and distributors
NBC Universal
Lionsgate
Endemol
MGM
Digital Rights Group
CBS Television Studios (Paramount)
Public Broadcasting Service
Sony Pictures Television
Warner Bros. Television
Availability
Currently, Hulu's content is only available in the United States with licensing reasons cited. Hulu was planning on launching in the
U.K. and
Ireland September 2009, but as of April 2010 these had been abandoned for the foreseeable future after failure to sign any content deals. In July 2010, the
Financial Times revealed that Hulu had been working on plans for an international launch of Hulu Plus for several months, and had now identified the UK and Japan as markets where its free website and subscription model could feasibly work. Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar expressed his belief that the US model could be replicated elsewhere, saying "We won't be satisfied until this is a global service."
As of February 2009, Hulu has pulled its content from CBS Corp.'s TV.com, and from Boxee, a software firm that makes Internet video suitable for viewing on a large screen, like a television connected to a PC. However, Hulu worked with PlayOn, which when combined with an Xbox 360, PS3, or certain other devices would allow playback of Hulu content on a TV. Also, Boxee produced a workaround for Hulu support.
See also
Video on demand
Digital rights management
Fancast
References
External links
Hulu official website
"With Hulu, Older Audiences Lead the Way", The Wall Street Journal
Category:American websites
Category:Internet properties established in 2007
Category:Entertainment websites
Category:Video hosting
Category:Video on demand services
Category:Web 2.0
Category:Internet television
Category:Private equity portfolio companies
Category:Providence Equity Partners companies
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