Good news or bad news???

[clcallegari]

Comcast just bought NBC from GE...

"Comcast will retain NBC's stake in Hulu, but is stripped of control"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...f-control.html

Read and discuss...

[TheKrishna]

Comcast just bought NBC from GE...

"Comcast will retain NBC's stake in Hulu, but is stripped of control"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...f-control.html

Read and discuss...

I completely agree with the courts ruling. If comcast had control, you bet that hulu would not only be a completely different site, but would probably end up only hosting NBC and networks associated with NBC's shows.

[Randall_Lind]

NBC sucks and Comcrap sucks so it a match made in Heaven. I am still ticked that they killed TechTV. However because of that now we have Revision 3.

[kdnoel]

Report: Hulu mulling plan to become “virtual” cable carrier
By Ben Patterson ben Patterson Thu Jan 27, 11:40 am ET

Is Hulu, our favorite source of free TV shows, about to undergo a radical change? Word has it that the three main stakeholders of Hulu are feuding over whether to keep the site (mostly) free or turn it into a paid service offering live TV channels—a kind of virtual, online cable carrier.

It doesn't sound like any hard-and-fast decisions have been made quite yet, but the Wall Street Journal reports that Hulu equity partners NBC Universal, News Corp., and Disney—the parent companies of NBC, Fox, and ABC, respectively—are at odds over Hulu's future.

Indeed, the Journal claims that Disney and News Corp. are even considering yanking some of their free shows from Hulu, in favor of selling them to for-pay online video services like Netflix, Apple, and Microsoft (which has its popular Xbox Live streaming service for Xbox 360 gamers).

The lengthy Journal piece details mounting tensions among the various Hulu stakeholders and management, with the networks fretting that by giving away their shows on the Hulu website, they're essentially biting the hands of cable and satellite operators who pay big bucks to carry their shows. (The pay-TV industry, meanwhile, is seeing a slow, steady slide in the overall number of subscribers.)

Of course, that dilemma would be a little less pressing were Hulu making more money, and as the Journal points out, Hulu had a grand plan for doing just that: Hulu Plus, the paid subscription service that launched last summer.

Initially priced at $10 a month, the service offers access to a deeper catalog of TV shows and seasons, as well as Hulu access for those with iPhones, iPads, Android handsets, the PlayStation 3, Roku, and various other Hulu-enabled set-top boxes and HDTVs. Hulu eventually dropped its monthly Hulu Plus fee to $8, with many industry observers seeing the price drop as a reaction to increasing competition from Netflix's burgeoning collection of streaming TV shows.

Apparently, however, the revenue from Hulu Plus isn't enough for some of Hulu's stakeholders, who—according to the Journal, at least—are cooking up a new, radically different strategy: turning Hulu into a pay site with live TV channels, complete with the same kinds of bundles you'll find on your local pay-TV carrier.

Hulu hasn't made the decision to become what the Journal calls a "virtual cable operator" quite yet, the Journal reports, but it sounds like the option is most definitely on the table, with the thought being that some Hulu content would continue to be free.

In any case, if you're a fan of free Hulu, well … enjoy it while it lasts.

Related:
Hulu Reworks Its Script as Digital Change Hits TV [Wall Street Journal]

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

[darcilicious]

WSJ article is here.

[kdnoel]

WSJ article is here.

Thanks Darliccious!

[Silverlock]

From the WSJ article:

He worried that online video would train a generation of people to expect entertainment for free with advertising.

Decades too late to worry about that. There was TV long before cable or satellite, after all.

Two words (or more properly, two acronyms): OTA HDTV. No cable fees, no satellite dish.

UHF loop antenna: $15
Calling the cable company and telling them that I no longer required their TV services: priceless.

[darcilicious]

Calling the cable company and telling them that I no longer required their TV services: priceless.

I might be there in October (Verizon sold the FiOS TV to Frontier in a couple of states who is forcing TV customers OUT by pricing themselves $30+/mo more than the competition once your contract/price guarantee is up.)

[Silverlock]

All I can say to that is... ouch!

[kdnoel]

The deal is done... at least they want have control of Hulu...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/...us_comcast_nbc