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Filed under: Internet, Video

Disney joins Hulu


The rumors have been swirling around for a few weeks, but today the Walt Disney Company officially announced that it is becoming an equity partner in Hulu. Disney, through a subsidiary of ABC Enterprises Inc., will join NBC Universal and News Corp. as an investor and content provider. Full-length episodes from ABC primetime, ABC Family and SOAPnet will be added to Hulu's content library, as well as classic ABC shows and select shows and movies from The Disney Channel. Essentially, ABC.com's streaming content will be coming to Hulu.

With the addition of ABC, three of the four major US television networks are now partners in Hulu. This leaves CBS and its TV.com venture all by its lonesome. As for YouTube, which is trying to get into the commercial content game, let's just say this move won't help the already anemic offering.

Despite the boxee nastiness (which has been mitigated, for now), Hulu continues to take off and is positioning itself as the defacto destination for online television viewing, provided of course, you live in the US. Having one robust platform is not only easier for viewers to navigate, it is easier to sell to advertisers.

The financial terms of the agreement weren't released, though I expect those details to emerge.

[via Mashable]

Filed under: Video, Web

Hulu pulls video from TV.com

TV.com
Last month TV.com relaunched its web site as a video portal with full length streaming episodes of TV shows, social features, and IMDB-like info about TV show casts, episodes info, and other information. TV.com is owned by CBS, so obviously CBS content was available, but the bulk of the full length episodes were provided by Hulu -- until today.

It appears Hulu has removed its content from TV.com. And it looks like the move happened on short notice, because when you go to the page for a show that was provided by Hulu, there are still links to play the episodes. You just wind up staring at an unpleasant "Video unavailable" message once you click the link.

It's possible that CBS is planning to broker its own deals with the studios in order to increase the amount of ad revenue it receives (instead of splitting it with Hulu). But that wouldn't explain the whole Video unavailable fiasco.

Update: Hulu has released a brief statement that doesn't really say anything. But Hulu is also asking Boxee to remove its video content due to a request from Hulu's content partners.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web

TV.com wants to be a social Hulu

TV.com
CBS, which owns the online TV portal TV.com recently redesigned the site, and today the company is announcing deals that will allow it to show online video from PBS, Sony, MGM, and other studios in addition to the Hulu and CBS content that's already available.

In other words, you can add TV.com to the long list of online video portals, most of which are showing pretty much identical content. What CBS hopes will set the site apart from the competition is the existing user base that uses the site to view TV listings, episode guides, and the site's social features. The site has active forums, reviews, and a ton of information about TV shows, actors, and other entertainment related items.

What it doesn't have is a user friendly interface for browsing online video. If you click on Videos or Shows, you may very well get to a page that has information about and video clips from a TV show. But it's not until you click on the full episodes button that you'll find out whether or not full episodes are even available. And I wasn't able to find a single page with a list of TV shows available for viewing like the ones you can find at Hulu and other popular video sites. Sure, most people will probably find it easier to search for content than to browse, and the search engine works reasonably well. But again, it just takes too many clicks to find out whether full episodes are available for streaming.

TV.com certainly has the potential to be a major player in the online video space. The site has a great URL and a good selection of content and features. But if CBS is serious about making it a portal for watching videos and not just reading about them, the site still needs a little work.

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