“Apple Inc., sitting on $76.2 billion in cash and securities, is considering making a bid for the Hulu online video service, two people with knowledge of the auction said,” Andy Fixmer and Adam Satariano report for Bloomberg.
“Apple, the world’s second-most valuable company, is in early talks that may lead to an offer for Hulu, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly,” Fixmer and Satariano report. “Hulu would give Apple a new subscription service and represent a possible challenge to Netflix Inc. Hulu’s media- company owners, Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal, are offering suitors a five-year extension of program rights, including two years of exclusive access, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.”
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Fixmer and Satariano report, “Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners, bankers for Hulu, have elicited interest from Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., AT&T Inc. and other companies, people said earlier. Microsoft Corp. dropped out of the bidding, a person with knowledge of the matter said this week.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Sarah” and “Manny Suarez” for the heads up.]
I don’t see this happening, but if it did this would be the end of the world for anything not approved by apple
netflix it is time to die
@peter – how trite of you. Netflix offers a service that millions of people enjoy.
Downloads are not yet the end-all, be-all. One of the services that Netflix offers, Blu-Ray discs in the mail, remains the best quality video experience available in your home today. Period.
It won’t be time for Netflix to die for a long, long time. Arguably it is Netflix alone that is forcing the download services to improve their game — that alone is reason to support its continued success.
This would be an awesome idea. It won’t happen but it would be great. Imagine that with apple tv? Good bye cable companies.
One big problem with wishing bon voyage to the the cable companies–for a lot of folks (like me) they are the only option for high speed Internet, which of course is required for streaming Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, etc. Already the cable companies are making noise about data usage. I expect data caps in the not-too-distant future. I am not sure what our options will be when that happens.
Poor cable companies.
The whole data usage whining is bullshit. Let’s do the math: A single 1080i HD TV channel is delivered at just below 20 Mbps. If you would let the TV run 24/7, that is something like 6,500 GB per month. THAT is what the cable companies CAN deliver, and routinely do. If I don’t get the TV plan, I can reasonably expect that they deliver the same amount to me on the internet plan, and not cap me at a comparatively measly 250 GB.
It’s not the data, it’s not a technical problem. It’s the shitload of money they make with TV streams.
If I was Steve I would bid on Hulu even if I didn’t really want it just to punish Google for stealing the IP behind the iPhone by driving the bid so high they would really have to stretch to grab it costing them billions.
Then I would suddenly drop out and leave Google holding the bag. ;>)
Apple should have bought it already. Netflix can take the competition.
The guys at Hulu finally got some good news. Wow.
Just as Blockbuster died, sending discs back and forth will.
Look one of the last few “Joy of Tech” strips to see Netflix’s answer to that.
Anything that can be digitised will be. Anything that can go online will. Anything that can be streamed will be. Anything that can be virtualised will be. These are some of the axioms of our digital future.
IHulu !
I think this is a brilliant idea and I see apple making this purchase. I love Netflix but would this would make itv much better and allow apple to build it’s ecosystem of entertainment. It’s all about keeping the family of app services under one congruent roof. People like the synergy and convienence and connectedness that apple offers in their products.
I would LOVE Hulu on my Apple TV!
Just for my own selfish reasons, no idea if it would be good for Apple in the big picture.
(hey, not a bad pun!)
Dream time. Hulu is one of the missing killer apps on the AppleTV. That and Crackle
Hulu isn’t a business. They don’t own any unduplicatable tech. They’re just allowed to show the shows.
Let Apple show the shows!
You’ve nailed it, IMO, and ‘Cut Throat’ has made the right call above. The few studios (incl. Disney) is offering only about 2 years of exclusivity and 4-5 years of subscription. You can put certain $ amount on it, but Apple don’t need to outbid billions to acquire rights they should already have on iTunes if not for the industry politics. If Apple purchases Hulu the studio pinheads win via extortion.
Let Google pick this one up; fAndroidanistas need it. Apple should bid on it still to keep Google interest honest.
The few new shows that Apple users won’t have on iTunes, certainly isn’t worth the 2-3 billions dollars Apple is unlikely to recover on this purchase alone. Besides which, if iPad continues it’s tear the sector run, I expect the studios to suddenly grow brains ere too long, unlike the pundits in the publishing houses.
Oh yay: another “what should Apple do with all that cash?” article. Simple question: Apple sells a lot of Hulu’s content. On iTunes now. They also possess the massive infrastructure to accommodate more of what Hulu offers. What is the advantage of Apple making this acquisition again?
Especially if iOS5 allows AirPlay of everything from your iPad. We may be getting Hulu on our ATV next month without spending billions on an asset with an expiration date. I’m not sure that 5 years of licensing is worth it.
You’re right. None. It’s trivial. If Apple want to disrupt TV they have to acquire killer content, just like I did. That means Movies and Sports. Movies is very fragmented, Sports not quite so much. I can’t think of a better way to use some cash. How about exclusive rights to the Olympics? Or the Super-Bowl?
Then maybe they should worry about delivery systems. Cable is expensive and hard to lay, so do what I did again and get a satellite (or two).
Apple does not offer streaming content right now without also purchasing a download.
However, advertised financed streaming is still a viable option to offer, if they really want to take over the TV distribution market. For instance, for what I would call “event” TV (sports, award shows, some reality TV). You know, for watching an event that is located at a fixed time, and has low interest after the event is over. Also for testing out new content, new TV shows for free, and advertising new content that is also offered for sale or rental (without advertisement).
Depends on what the Hulu package contains. If it contains streaming rights, and advertiser database, that might be what Apple is interested in obtaining. Technology, not so much. I think that Apple already has developed or licensed better streaming technology.
Again: in the previous years Steven Jobs talked numerously about cable providers being obstacle to idea of “reinventing TV”.
This might mean that in Apple ever will buy something strategic, then it might be Comcast.
However, since it is only part of cable market, though huge one (the other one is Time Warner), and it is only for USA, Apple may be not interested at all.
Blockbuster isn’t dead yet. We started off with Netflix years ago but the waiting sucked – returns via mail only and then the next one also had to come out by mail…took way too long a lot of the time. Netflix streaming selection is still weak. We switched to Blockbuster because it is a lot quicker to return the DVD just down the street. They scan it immediately and give us unlimited in store exchanges for the unlimited “mailed” DVDs for $11.99.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/21/dish-blockbuster-idUSN1E76K22U20110721
I had both Netflix and Blockbuster and kept both for 2 years. Blockbuster was awesome with far more old and odd movie selections. Plus, as you have mentioned, I could drop off the movies at the Blockbuster stores nearby and a new movie is shipped the next day.
It was good, but it also killed Blockbuster. It’s been sold since, and I think Apple should have picked them up. But unlike many analysts out there, I trust the Apple top brass to know what they are doing.
Six massive iSatellites circling the globe. The Wide World of Apple.
Hulu sucks so badly right now. Flash only technology (ew), excruciatingly long ads on their free product (puke), and plenty of ads on their paid subscription product (c’mon, really?).
The only way I can imagine Hulu becoming good is if Apple took them over and overhauled their craptastic service.
More likely they would do what they did with Lala….
Buy the competition and shut them down.
Shame nobody outside the US can view Hulu.