NTCA's The New Edge » Hulu

Boxee Adds Local Ability

Steve Fravel — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:38:30 +0000

Intent on drawing the video cord-cutting crowd to the Boxee solution, Boxee today introduced a new add-on that helps keep viewers in the Boxee box.

The new “wrinkle” is a dongle that attaches to the Boxee via USB and provides a coaxial connection to an antenna or pay-TV device. The live dongle will allow a user to integrate local broadcast signals or content from cable, satellite or telco into the Boxee experience.

According to Boxee, the majority of highly rated television programs originate on “free,” over-the-air broadcast channels. For many viewers, the all-in-one approach of Boxee integrating OTT content like Hulu and Netflix along with the over-the-air signals creates a compelling alternative to pay-TV.

Not For Sale: Hulu

Steve Fravel — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:51:23 +0000

The Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners said in a prepared statement, “Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success. Our focus now rests on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for Hulu.”

Recent stories and analysis of the “auction” for Hulu pointed out that given the low bids received, combined with the likelihood of Hulu growing into a more robust subscription service, it could suggest that keeping Hulu and Hulu Plus may be the better solution. Certainly once the million subscriber benchmark was crossed, it seemed that the better strategy would be for the current owners to maintain control of Hulu.

Dish Network, Google and Amazon provided bids for the service, with Google submitting the greatest dollar amount but tying its offer to several conditions. Dish Network appeared to have the inside track to gaining Hulu with the next highest bid. The owners and experts both seemed surprised at the low dollar amounts bid. Indications were that the winner might be getting the Hulu service and content for approximately $2 billion.

The owners are going to keep it and maintain control of the “next day” distribution of ABC, NBC and Fox programming. Had the sale gone forward, relinquishing control of the content might have been a crippling error.

Update: Hulu Bids

Steve Fravel — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:56:18 +0000

If the list of bidders in the proposed sale of Hulu are Google, Yahoo, Dish Network and Amazon, which company would you likely pick to have made the highest bid? If you selected Google you’d be correct, although there is a “but” after the price pledged. Google has placed conditions on the bid that may make it less attractive than the next largest bid.

With a bid of $1.9 billion, Dish Network is second runner-up in straight cash offers. So, what is next?

The owners of Hulu will have to take a good look at not only the money pledged but the conditions that potential buyers have set on the sale. They must consider the requirements that Google has set, keeping in mind that none of the bids is in-line with the money they had hoped to get for Hulu.

They also might reject the current round of bidding and re-tool the sale conditions for another round. The owners could determine that the best thing to do is nothing at all and keep Hulu.

Dish is thought to be willing to bid higher, with interest in both the content and the “back-end” technology in the Hulu service. It may come down to Google or Dish as the new owner. In this game it is now the owner’s move.

Apple Considers Hulu

Steve Fravel — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:40:06 +0000

Although the company declined to publicly comment, Apple is said to be in discussions concerning a possible bid for online video site Hulu. Last week, the owners of Hulu — Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Comcast and NBC Universal — confirmed that the ownership of Hulu was definitely in play.

A possible Hulu acquisition would provide Apple with a new subscription service featuring more video. Currently Apple provides video for it’s popular iTunes customers on an on-demand rental basis rather than a subscription. Comcast, Disney and News Corp. have built a program rights extension of five years into the sale, creating a strong potential alternative to Netflix.

Estimates are that Hulu will command more than $2 billion.

For more, see this Bloomberg News article.

Hulu Up for Sale, 1M Paid Subs within Reach

Jesse Ward — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:41:52 +0000

For several weeks now, the trade press has been buzzing with rumors that Hulu is up for sale. Last week Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that the three media companies that own the online video portal — News Corp., Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal — are “committed to selling” the site. Iger did not reveal when a sale would occur, but predicted it was inevitable.

Nearly a dozen companies are rumored to be actively involved in discussions with Hulu, including Amazon, AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Verizon and Yahoo.

Google is predicted to be a front-runner. Although the Internet giant already has a vested interest in video through its YouTube division, Hulu would provide the company with something it does not have — access to Hollywood contracts.

Amazon may be the most well-suited as a Hulu buyer since its business model is based on selling and distributing content. In addition, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar is a former Hulu exec, bringing a certain level of familiarity to the deal.

Hulu reported in a blog post last week that is now has more than 875,000 paid subscribers, and it expects to exceed 1 million users for its $7.99 per-month service by the end of the summer season, earlier than the year-end goal the company initially set. Management expects total revenue of approximately $500 million in 2011.

In comparison, Netflix has 23 million customers and, according to Bloomberg, may generate $3.25 billion in revenue this year.

For more, see this All Things D blog post.

Fox vs. Cablevision

Jesse Ward — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:16:42 +0000

Cablevision and Fox parent News Corp. are engaged in a very public and heated retransmission consent battle. Negotiators failed to reach an agreement yesterday evening, more than a day after their current deal expired. As a result, Fox has pulled its channels and programming while the two sides discuss how much Cablevision will pay to carry them. Talks are expected to resume this morning.

The FCC posted a consumer advisory on its website last night. The advisory reads, in part: “Cablevision and Fox had an agreement for Cablevision to carry WNYW, WWOR, and WTXF that expired at 11:59 pm EDT on October 15, 2010. They have been negotiating to renew that agreement, but failed to reach a new agreement before the deadline. As a result, Cablevision stopped carrying WNYW, WWOR, and WTXF. This dispute affects only Cablevision subscribers who wish to view programming on WNYW, WWOR, and WTXF. “

The commission notes, however, that Cablevision has also lost the signals for Fox cable networks including Fox Business, Fox Deportes and Nat Geo Wild.

It suggests that affected subscribers turn to over-the-air solutions, or competing pay-TV providers. The FCC states: “In the affected areas, other available pay services include: AT&T, DIRECTV, DISH Network, RCN (limited areas of Brooklyn), and Verizon FIOS. NOTE: Not all of these pay service providers are available throughout Cablevision’s service areas in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. You should contact the pay service provider to determine whether they provide service to your residence. In addition, you should be aware that DISH’s agreement for these stations is set to expire on November 1 unless a new agreement is reached between DISH and Fox.” (For more on Fox vs. Dish, see last week’s post.)

Cablevision has called on News Corp. to resume transmission immediately and submit to binding arbitration under a neutral third party. Cablevision says it pays $70 million a year for access to 12 Fox channels, including those in dispute, and News Corp. is asking for “outrageous fee demands” totaling more than $150 million a year for the same programming.

For its part Fox has blamed Cablevision for the impasse, saying the two remain “far apart.” It rejected the notion of binding arbitration, maintaining that it would “reward Cablevision for refusing to negotiate fairly.”

According to major news outlets, over the weekend Fox upped the ante, denying Cablevision’s broadband customers access to Hulu and Fox.com. Fox is using its online properties as a negotiating tool, a tactic which speaks to the growing importance of Web-enabled content. A Hulu spokeswoman told All Things D: “Unfortunately, we were put in a position of needing to block Fox content on Hulu in order to remain neutral during contract negotiations between Fox and Cablevision. This only includes Fox content. All other Hulu content is accessible to Cablevision [I]nternet subscribers. We regret the impact on Cablevision customers and look forward to returning Fox content to those users as soon as possible.”

Once this news was published, however, Fox quickly changed tactics, re-instating service to its Web properties.

Hulu Plus

Steve Fravel — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:21:05 +0000

Hulu has added a new product. According to the Hulu online options, episodes of programs from NBC, Fox and ABC from this past season in addition to a catalog of other programming is available by subscription. This new wrinkle in the service is called Hulu Plus. Hulu has priced the service at $9.99 per month.

Recent episodes are still available as free content, but carry commerical advertising. Hulu Plus will allow multiple viewings for episodes that cover a longer period of time, including earlier seasons.

This new service requires an invitation from Hulu. Initially, Hulu Plus will be available only for computer viewing. Television viewing will be available soon using some Samsung Blu-Ray players. iPads and iPhones should follow shortly and Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft XBox are to be included later, making Hulu Plus a three platform service.

Is this the precursor to the eventual elimination of “free” access to network programs?

For more, visit Hulu Plus online.

Hulu Plans Subscription Service

Steve Fravel — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:21:58 +0000

The popular and trendy on-line video site Hulu has released information concerning a test of subscription service that is likely to begin near the end of May.

According to the subscription proposal; the plan calls for Hulu to continue offering “free” access to the five most recent episodes of programs like Lost, Saturday Night Live, Grey’s Anatomy, Parenthood and Glee.

Those who may want to “dig deeper” in time and look at older episodes from previous seasons would be required to pay a $9.95 monthly access fee. This fee would allow the viewer to choose from a more complete catalog of program episodes. The pay service is reported to be named “Hulu Plus.”

Hulu which is jointly owned by NBC Universal, New Corp and the Walt Disney Company is currently second in monthly video stream consumption to the number one ranked YouTube service.

The subscription for Hulu is a major change in the way in which Hulu has been doing business over the past two years. The Hulu owners are concerned that too much free access to content will dilute the value of on-line television in a manner similar to the music industry whose revenues dropped due to free access to songs on-line.

Comcast, GE Strike a Deal on NBC Universal

Jesse Ward — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:30:03 +0000

It’s official. Late last week, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, announced an agreement to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric (GE) Company. The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion. As expected, the agreement gives Comcast 51%, and G.E. 49% ownership of the new joint entity which will not only produce content, but also control consumer’s access to it.

Comcast will contribute its cable channels to the joint venture, which include Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion.

Most of NBC’s value is in its cable channels — USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC and MSNBC. These networks, along with the channels that Comcast will contribute to the joint venture, will compose 82% of the company’s cash flow. The NBC network and Universal Studios will account for only a small portion of the joint company’s cash flow.

In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the deal was “a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform ‘anytime, anywhere’ media that American consumers are demanding.”

The merger has a large impact on the future of television programming, which will be viewed via mobile devices, computers and traditional televisions in American living rooms. Bernstein Research has estimated that the combined media giant “would be calling the shots for one out of every five viewing hours in the United States.”

NBC and Comcast have existing online properties that they bring to the table. As to what will become of them, Comcast told the Wall Street Journal that Hulu (the online-video site jointly owned by NBC, News Corp. and Disney) and TV Everywhere (Comcast and Time Warner’s online-video initiative) are complementary products, with broadcast TV shows appearing on Hulu, and premium cable programs on TV Everywhere. As of now, there are no plans to change Hulu’s free content model. (Of note, Hulu attracted 856 million viewers in October, a 47% increase from the prior month, this according to comScore.)

One important footnote: the deal is subject to regulatory approval, a long and potentially contentious process.

View G.E.’s release.
More on TV Everywhere, Hulu and the merger.

Real-Time Apps Double Viewer Traffic

Jesse Ward — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:41:36 +0000

A research study has noted a new trend: less TV and media downloading and more real-time Internet use.

Sandvine, the Ontario, Canada-based broadband network company, reports that there has been dramatic increase in consumer behavior towards real-time “experience now” applications (i.e. YouTube and Hulu.com) and away from bulk download “experience later” applications. In fact, real-time entertainment has almost doubled its share of total Internet traffic to 26.6% in 2009, up from 12.6% in 2008.

“We live in a ‘right-here, right-now’ society and that translates into time-sensitive gigabits,” said Dave Caputo, Sandvine co-founder, president and CEO. “As more and more consumers rely on their Internet connection for on-demand entertainment it is increasingly necessary to protect their quality of experience.”

“A key element for minimizing customer churn and increasing consumer satisfaction will be improving quality of experience, especially in times of congestion when these real-time applications are being utilized the most and are the most sensitive to latency and jitter.”

Sandvine’s global research also finds that 1% of subscribers account for nearly 25% of total monthly Internet traffic, indicating a vast difference between the average subscriber and heavy users.

The report, entitled “2009 Global Broadband Phenomena,” is based on data from more than 20 cable and DSL service provider networks, totaling 24 million subscribers, spanning five regions worldwide including, North America, Europe, Caribbean and Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. This is the sixth report in an ongoing series of broadband phenomena & Internet traffic analysis Sandvine has published since 2002.