Win some, lose some.
Xbox--despite rumors to the contrary--doesn't appear to be the box of choice for Hulu, which had been tied to the game platform in a number of stories last week. Pundits expected the online video catch-up service to roll out its first-ever premium subscription service at the E3 event this week. So far, nope.
In April, Hulu was rumored to be preparing a subscription service for the just-released iPad, too. That rumor, obviously, also didn't bear fruit.
That it's always at the center of attention has to be scoring bonus points with Hulu's parental triumvirate, News Corp., Disney and NBC Universal, but the fact that they can't seem to pull the trigger may speak more to the pending ownership status of NBCU.
On a brighter note, Xbox did land a big league upgrade for its Netflix streaming service; Xbox users now have the same search and instant watch capabilities as they do online and on Roku, which rolled out the upgrade a couple of weeks ago.
Speaking of the big leagues, Xbox also announced it has signed a content deal with ESPN that will bring Microsoft Live Gold members (who pay a monthly subscription fee) some 3,500 live events, including college football and basketball, soccer, golf, tennis and NBA games, among other lesser events.
One caveat: To get access to the content you need to also subscribe to a service that offers ESPN3.com, like AT&T, Cox, Comcast, Verizon and Charter.
For more:
- see this release
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