With its three owners squabbling over how the business should be modeled, Hulu is beginning to consider a remake that would turn it from online television catch-up service to an online cable operator that would stream live broadcast channels and have a video-on-demand component similar to others--start-up like ivi TV--already on the market.
The Wall Street Journal Thursday said sources close to the discussions said a new Hulu model would include bundled content packages, along the lines of those offered by pay-TV operators. Hulu is jointly owned by News Corp., Walt Disney and NBC Universal, which was just acquired by Comcast.
The three have consistently disagreed over what kind, and how much content to make available via Hulu; they've also, in the case of Disney and NBCU, struck content deals with competitors to Hulu like Netflix and Apple. With both Disney and News Corp. weighing how much content they want to give Hulu, the strains have increased, and the demands for successful monetization have also grown.
"When we blaze trails, which is what Hulu is about, it takes time," Hulu CEO Jason Kilar told the Journal. "That is not for the faint of heart, and we understand that."
The paper also said Kilar threatened to leave Hulu earlier this year over subscription pricing for its premium service, Hulu Plus. Kilar wanted to drop the price to $4.99 from $9.99. The company eventually settled on a $7.99 price tag.
For more:
- see this WSJ article
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