Up for sale Hulu: Now with more than 1 million paying subscribers
Summary: Hulu has reached a crucial 1 million paid subscriber marks, but plans to sell the company appear to be unshaken.
YouTube rival and popular online video service, Hulu, now has over one million paying subscribers, chief executive Jason Kilar said on Wednesday.
Hulu's earlier forecast estimated that the company would reach the milestone by the end of the year. He confirmed that it had reached the one million paying subscriber mark "at the end of this summer".
Since Hulu rolled out a subscription tier late last year, the company has been moving from strength to strength, adding more content partners from Hollywood studios to television partners. CEO Kilar said that the company would pull in over $500 million in revenue alone this year, investing in $375 million or more in additional content.
The company started by offering content from its owners News Corporation, Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal. Kilar said that it wants to work with more providers, saying he is "cautiously optimistic that we will work with everyone over time".
Programmers have been reluctant to make deals with Hulu, with concerns that it could undercut existing relationships with pay-TV distributors.
Put up for sale earlier this year, it sparked rumours of offers from Google through to Apple, both of which offer television services through Google TV and YouTube and the iTunes Store respectively.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger said earlier this year that the owners were "fully committed" to selling Hulu, though this position will unlikely change despite the milestone and revenue the company continues to generate.
Critics, however, say that the plan to sell Hulu is unwise, as the owners should hold onto the major distribution channel they have with the company, instead of selling it off to rivals and competitors, like Amazon, Apple or Google.
Hulu is currently up for sale for $2 billion.
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Talkback
RE: Up for sale Hulu: Now with more than 1 million paying subscribers
RE: Up for sale Hulu: Now with more than 1 million paying subscribers
RE: Up for sale Hulu: Now with more than 1 million paying subscribers
Either they've forgotten that, or they'll have to sell at a low price in order to retain such control.
No serious buyer would touch it, while it's products (decaying TV shows) were subject to control by the previous owners.
And as a closed system, they have a distinct disadvanatge when looking for new clients, when compared to Apple, Google etc.
Frankly, I can't imagine anyone buying it, though i suppose one of the owners may buy the others out. But even that wont work; if, say, Murdoch bought it, how long before NBC withdrew in a sulk? If NBC bought it, it would be seconds before Disney started looking for a way out.
Sorry, but it just doesn't add up for me.
RE: Up for sale Hulu: Now with more than 1 million paying subscribers
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