Hulu is a video on demand service that is offered online, it is setting the expectations high for video sharing. According to officials at Hulu, the video on demand service was designed specifically to be one single source of on-demand, free programming which is offered from some of the most popular online networks and studios, this service helps the viewers easily and quickly enjoy and find the premium content in which, they are searching for. Hulu is actually a joint venture of News Corp and NBC Universal. There was also a one hundred million dollar equity investment made on behalf of Providence Equity Partners and this company holds a ten percent stake in the company as a result of the investment. During the month of March of 2007, the partnership was announced and the name “Hulu” was later chosen in the latter part of August, which is when the website when live. The service is known to offer complete episodes of FOX and NBC television programs, which includes shows from Fuel TV, Bravo, FX, Sundance, Sci Fi, Style, and Oxygen channels. Hulu is also known to offer some selected movies.
Interesting Corporate History
CEO Jason Kilar posted a letter on the Hulu website that mentioned that the site would start beta testing by invitation only during the month of October of two thousand and seven. The CEO also stated that several different sites including Comcast, AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Myspace were going to partner with Hulu in order to deliver the video content. Right now, this website is limited in beta testing allowing the current users only to invite friends. During the beta testing, there are fifteen to thirty second advertisements that are presented intermittently, which is normally around three minute ad break would be placed. This website launched for public access for users in the United States on March 12th of two thousand and eight.
Criticism Surrounding Hulu
The “anywhere, anytime” slogan that Hulu has, has really drawn attention and criticism from it’s users because of the fact that the content that is currently available on Hulu is only available to the users that are located within the United States. By Google internally, the company has been humorously nicknamed the “Clown Co.”. This has taken place due to the venture remaining without a name for several months. The Hulu users also criticize the lack of shows that are not full length. Most of the movies on this site are also split into separate parts. However, based on the fact that the videos are free for users to watch, there are commercials taking place during the videos.
You Can’t Judge A Book by its Cover
This slogan has been around for years and rings true for the on demand service provider, Hulu. Even though the company has had some problems getting the venture up and going, there isn’t any reason for anyone to criticize them. Every company has to start from somewhere and the road to the top is rough and ragged. It is going to take some time for Hulu is get all of the operations up and running for users all over the world but once it has, Hulu will be the talk of the town.
