Hulu has finally launched. And odds are you don't have access to it yet. The online video distribution service is a joint venture between NBC and News Corp, and as of today, it's open to anyone with an invitation. Hulu execs say for now, that just means a few thousand people.

We have to admit, we were a bit dubious when the companies announced they would be launching an online video portal. Why not just distribute their videos through an existing service like YouTube or Veoh? And can't you already watch most of these programs at NBC.com or Fox.com?

The truth of the matter is, Hulu is both a web site and a distribution platform. You can watch ad-supported videos at Hulu.com. The videos load in a Flash player, so you probably won't need to install any new software on your computer. And you can embed clips and full-length videos on your own site. Since the advertising stays intact, Hulu makes money no matter where people are watching the videos. Some of the ads will be overlays, while longer videos will likely have a limited number of interstitials, or what we like to think of as your classic commercial that comes on between TV episode segments.

Hulu will also be distributing videos through other portals like MSN Video and AOL Video. In fact, you can already find a handful of full-length TV shows from Hulu at AOL's site.

While you might think the service's 2 company pedigree means you can only watch a handful of videos like Prison Break, 24, Heroes, and Bionic Woman, those two companies produce a lot of video that wind up on other channels. For example, you can find Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Psych, and other shows that air on NBC-owned channels. And there's also a library of programming from the vault, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lost in Space, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's also a limited number of movies available. You can check out complete lists of content from TechCrunch or NewTeeVee (PDF Link).

New episodes will probably stay on the site for about 5 weeks. It's not clear how long episodes of classic TV shows will be online. But that's what distinguishes Hulu from a good PVR or DVD player. It's more like video on demand, in that you're at the mercy of the programmers. If you decide you want to start watching a series from episode 1, by the time you get to episode 6, the first season may have been pulled off the site, forcing you to buy your downloads from iTunes, Amazon, or the DVD store.

Update: Thanks to Silicon Alley Insider, we got us some embed code. And it looks like once you embed the video on your site, you can access all kinds of other videos through the menu system. Check it out after the jump.

Update 2: And Hulu content is live on MSN Video.

[via TechCrunch]

NBC and News Corp are getting ready to answer an age old question: do people really go to YouTube to watch user-uploaded videos of cats doing stupid things or to watch illegally uploaded snippets of The Colbert Report?

The two networks are teaming up to launch a YouTube competitor that will focus primarily on professional content including content from NBC and News Corp shows. Today, the new site got a name: Hulu. As an acronym, it doesn't seem to stand for anything, but it's "short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself." Because that's what we've been looking for in an online video site.

Hulu is currently accepting e-mail addresses of anyone interested in signing up for a private beta, which is set to launch in October.

If there were any doubts about social networks making money after all of their debts, development costs and acquisition prices, take a look at MySpace's recent profits.

News Corp. has announced that MySpace has made a profit of $10 Million on $550 million in revenues, with almost 4.3 billion page views per day. When Rupert Murdoch bought the social network it wasn't clear to many if and when they would recoup their initial investment. This reported amount far exceeded News Corp's initial benchmarks, and with MySpace part of the Fox Interactive arm, the company said they will approach the $1 Billion mark in annual revenue on that sector alone.

The earnings results also included revenue from MySpace's deal with Google to monetize search results.

Should news be free? DLS thinks so, but some major media outlets think not.

News Corp, the new owners of the Wall Street Journal online at WSJ.com, still believe that users should pay for their news. However, a lack of subscribers and a realization that online content is all about the free availability has began investigating plans to turn things around.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corps head honcho said that his staff is looking closely at granting free access to the Wall Street Journals website, citing that it is a very expensive thing to do, but could pay off in the long-term.

Big media outlets still don't get it do they? Great free content online equals happy loyal viewers and more traffic, thus more ad dollars. The pay for content thing doesn't really work in today's world anymore.

Do any DLS readers pay for content online?

Not happy with how YouTube deals with copyrighted materials, NBC and News Corp. have been on the move to create a joint venture that would crunch YouTube for what seems like ages. Now they are shopping around to raise cash for their currently unnamed product.

NewTeeVee has the scoop on the NewCo team hitting up VC's from New York to Silicon Valley to fund their venture, and reportedly looking to get at least $100 Million, on a $1 Billion valuation. So far, no luck on investments for, what was believed by these companies, to be a killer online video channel showcasing their own material.

Will this new company be able to come close to the popularity of YouTube? Chances are no. YouTube's traffic is increasing daily, and growing across all markets, while this new company is still having troubles even getting started.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp picked up MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. Now the company is trying to offer MySpace, and possibly some other properties like IGN, to Yahoo! in exchange for a quarter stake in the portal. After the merger, that 25% stake could be worth more than $12 billion.

It's not clear whether the recent leadership change at Yahoo! will help or hurt the deal in any way.

Yahoo! is definitely interested in breaking into the social networking game. The company made a failed $1 billion dollar bid for Facebook last year. It'll be interesting to see how much MySpace, a site that's been losing ground to Facebook in recent months, is worth to Yahoo!

While Viacom's strategy toward YouTube has been to sue the online video company for copyright infringement, NBC and News Corp (parent company of Fox) are trying to beat YouTube at its own game.

The LA Times reports the two companies are preparing a new site that will feature clips of NBC and Fox programs, including Heroes, 24, The Office, and Family Guy. Clips would be available through the site and would also be available for distribution by Yahoo!, AOL, MySpace, and Microsoft. The companies also plan to sell downloaded content from Fox and Universal Pictures. There's also a possibility that other content owners could jump on the bandwagon.

The big question will be whether this strategy can put a dent in Google/YouTube's dominance of online video. If the networks were simply setting up their own site, we'd be dubious. But partnering with companies like Yahoo! and AOL makes a lot of sense. While trying to drive traffic to a new site is tough, providing content to sites that are already popular is a great way to control the distribution of your material.

[via Tech Crunch]

Fox has lifted a page from the RIAA playbook in a recent YouTube takedown request. Under normal circumstances, when a user uploads a copyright protected piece of video to YouTube the copyright holder complains and the item is quickly removed. In this case, where a user uploaded Simpsons and 24 episodes, Fox has gone much further, asking a court to force Youtube to fork over the personal information attached to the offending user account.

We can safely assume Fox's only reason to go begging for a user's personal data is to file a lawsuit against the individual. Fox's VP of content protection, Jane Sunderland, is quoted in the subpoena claiming "irreparable harm" from the brief infringement, a note of panic that may be a bit over-the-top in describing the harm rendered by a poorly encoded Flash movie making a quick show on the popular video site. According to Google Watch, neither side of the dispute would comment on the matter; My first question would be aimed squarely at Fox, "When you sue John Doe, what are you planning to ask for remedy?"

We could be watching a whole new chapter in YouTube's evolution. I'm not encouraging the rampant sharing of copyright protected material, but I do think it's important to balance a user's right to privacy against the right of a corporation to protect itself. Dishing out a user's personal info over something that barely amounts to a blip on the piracy radar is totally overzealous.

Parental controls are good to have these days. There are a lot of sickos out there and the protection of our children online should be at the top of our lists. Social networking giant MySpace announced on Wednesday they are developing a parent notification tool and age verification software. The software, codenamed Zephyr, will be a desktop application. The current MySpace age verification software online does not allow children under the age of 14 to gain access to register for an account, but really, who cant lie about their age? There have been a number of reported cases of minors who have been violated, stemming from their underage MySpace accounts, and MySpace along with parent company News Corp intend to stamp out the chances of minors gaining access to the site so they don't get harmed from their service. No date has been announced for the age verification software's debut.

The ever popular MySpace social network has banged out a special Japanese version of the networking service, and launched it today. MySpace is currently running national versions in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, and in the UK. This new language integration is a team effort between News Corp. and Japanes bank Softbank. The main competition in Japan for MySpace is the 6 million member service called Mixi. With all of this money and traffic behind MySpace, why in the world can't they spice up their user interface? Nevermind, maybe that's what makes the site work so well.

The Google team is out and knocking at the doors of traditional media outlets trying to get them to supply their content to YouTube in an effort to knock off lawsuits that could begin to sprout up surrounding copyright issues. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other executives have met with CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, and News Corp. amongst others talking about offering payments upwards of tens of millions for broadcasting rights for YouTube. With YouTube dishing out over 100 millions video clips per day, it is the main destination for video online. Only drawback? The many copyrighted materials that are getting uploaded and viewed daily. So what works best now for YouTube and the involved media companies? Take the copyrighted materials off and not only YouTube misses out on potentials visitors, but media outlets like Viacom and CBS miss out on advertising their content, and getting their messages out. YouTube allows for mass promotion and advertising. Becoming partners with Google and YouTube will be more beneficial to traditional medias bottom line, with the added bonus of reaching a vaster audience. Weighing things out, it only makes sense that partnering will make all parties, and their boards of directors involved extremely happy.

Social networking juggernaut MySpace is experiencing some post-acquisition woes in the form of complaints by former shareholders. Among them is MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, who says that MySpace parent company Intermix Media knowingly sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for far less than its true value and locked out other bidders including Viacom. Greenspan has released a nine-chapter report at FreeMySpace.com that he says presents proof of Intermix executives' wrongdoing. News Corp. has released a statement saying, "It's unfortunate that Mr. Greenspan continues to issue press releases complaining about a deal that many industry experts initially believed was a risk for News Corp. to take. We've strategically built this business since the acquisition and are just now beginning to realize real financial value. This is simply a case of sour grapes making for loud complaints." Other former MySpace investors are up in arms as well, though, filing lawsuits for a variety of allegations backed by big guns like Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, the firm that won billions for the Enron plaintiffs.

Last we checked in on Facebook it was reportedly in serious talks with Yahoo! for a billion-dollar buy-out. This week comes news that Viacom, long considered a prime candidate for ownership of Facebook after its "humiliating" loss to News Corp. in the battle for Myspace, has ruled out bidding for the booming social networking site. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone recently told Charlie Rose that though they considered a Facebook buy-out, they eventually decided that "the price is too high." Instead, Redstone said Viacom is looking at younger start-ups that are "on the cutting-edge of greatness and (where) we could make it grow." He also dodged questions about whether Viacom is after YouTube, calling it "a very good company."

What do you do when you're a huge media conglomerate and the huge media conglomerate across the street owns the biggest social networking site in town? You buy the next biggest social networking site in town, of course! Okay, so Bebo isn't actually the second-biggest social networking site in the U.S. (that would be Facebook, according to Hitwise), but it's pretty darn huge, and in a move mirroring News Corp.'s acquisition of MySpace, Viacom is considering a Bebo buyout. Last year Viacom lost to News Corp. in the $580 million bidding war for MySpace, and according to the Financial Times, "Viacom has approached Bebo but its plans are at a very early stage." Bebo reportedly turned down a recent offer from U.K. telecom conglomerate BT Group to the tune of $550 million.