Google To Buy Hulu?

[LowTech]

A short article from yesterday on MarketWatch…

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-in-talks-to-buy-hulu-la-times-2011-07-01

Google has been making some interesting moves recently it seems.

[Crim]

It would sure make a great addition to GoogleTV, Android.

[babgvant]

I wonder if Google’s ownership would make it harder to make content deals. 

[swoon]

As long as someone shows up with cash, I don’t believe content producers care that it is Google or Comcast. I’m sure they would love to sell to both.

[Mike Garcen]

interesting your guys view on it and GoogleTV, when i first read the title I thought about how google would merge hulu and YouTube, but as i think more i agree with you guys. Boy, with SageTV and if they got Hulu, guess they’re taking this GoogleTV thing serious.

[babgvant]

[quote=swoon]

As long as someone shows up with cash, I don’t believe content producers care that it is Google or Comcast. I’m sure they would love to sell to both.

[/quote]

If it was just about cash (or reasonable amounts of cash) and Google wanted the content, I’m not sure that Hulu adds anything to the mix.  They already have the infrastructure to deliver sub-standard internet video after all.

[swoon]

I think there’s a few things Hulu could bring to Google.

1. Google has shown it has not been able to deal successfully with content producers in the past and a naivety towards the industry at large. On the other hand, Hulu has been able to work deals.

2. Hulu is in a much larger set of living rooms via connected TVs and STBs, and Google TV has been ineffectual.

3. The Hulu brand has a built-in meaning to consumers as a service which offers TV and movies delivered via Internet whereas Google has no brand that does that. At best, Google has You Tube which is associated with non-professionally generated content meant to be viewed in a web browser.

4. Hulu has technology built around delivering advertising within its content and advertising partners.

5. Hulu has a software platform designed around discovering and delivering broadcast TV and movie content.

[babgvant]

Hulu was created by content companies to help establish a legit online presence; so being able to make the deals isn’t anything special. 

I’m not saying that Google (or anyone else for that matter) wouldn’t benefit from buying a somewhat established player in the space, just that Google being Google might be an issue for point #1.  Because of YouTube and search Google has issues with content providers; it would be hard for them to negotiate for content when they are getting sued because of the same content – unless that’s the point.

 

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