The saga of Hulu's quest for a buyer began in June with an unsolicited offer from Yahoo. In the weeks that followed, other companies, including Google and Amazon got involved.
Eventually Yahoo dropped out of the deal, thanks to the recent corporate shakeup which resulted in the firing of CEO Carol Bartz over the phone.
When the dust settled, the 2 top bidders were reportedly Dish Network and Google. Google offered the most money, but demanded longer guarantees for content than Hulu's controlling owners, News Corp, Disney, and Providence Equity Partners, were interested in.
Dish Network was willing to agree to their terms, but offered significantly less money. In the end, both offers were rejected.
Today a statement was released on the official Hulu blog stating:
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 solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for Hulu.
A fourth owner, NBCUniversal, was forced to give up their voice in the company as part of their merger with Comcast earlier this year.
Despite their optimistic statement, there are significant questions about Hulu's future. NBCUniversal has shown interest in pursuing other outlets for digital content distribution since losing their voice in Hulu's management.
In addition, News Corp recently made a change to their corporate policy, forcing Hulu to wait more than a week to air Fox Network content.
Over time, content providers have expressed dissatisfaction with Hulu's failure to match the advertising revenue formerly generated by traditional broadcasting and relationships with pay TV outlets have become strained by a perception of Hulu as a competitor.
While Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has consistently shown an interest in reaching as many viewers on as many devices as possible, he has frequently been forced to block platforms like Boxee which are seen as too competitive with the traditional TV business.
Hulu's future will depend on their willingness and ability to embrace the new reality of Internet distribution, putting them at odds with the legacy broadcasting business. Without a monumental change in attitudes among their corporate parents, the chances of that aren't looking good.
Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 13 Oct 2011 23:43
