Fast Company

Tracking: Hulu's Next Act

Tyler Gray — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:14:03 GMT

Will Hulu finally be sold? Things are certainly looking that way. Over the last few weeks everyone from Yahoo to TimeWarner has been kicking the tires of the TV and movie streaming service that’s owned by a trio of Hollywood studios--Disney, Fox, and NBCUniversal. And with increasing dissent among those studios as to what to do with Hulu, it seems like only a matter of time before a deal is worked out. Although a number of strategic options are being considered, one source told Fast Company that “Someone will buy them. The partners are motivated to be done with it.”

That motivation has been there for some time--Hulu was also put on the block in 2011--and underlines the tension that has always existed between the company and its Hollywood parents. Even as the service has thrived, building up an audience of over 4 million subscribers to its Hulu Plus service and generating nearly $700 million in revenue in 2012, Hulu’s corporate owners have seen it as a threat to their core businesses. Seven hundred million is impressive, sure, but the tens of billions of dollars that Fox et al. pull in cable subscriptions and TV ad dollars is even more so. In a feature about Hulu that I wrote last year about the company I delved into that tension and how it played out--basically a simmering, years-long battle between former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and the Hollywood suits, the ones from Fox in particular. It was the hot-headed, digital entrepreneur who (as Hollywood saw it) wanted the studios’ content for free versus stodgy, network traditionalists who were clinging to dying models.

With Kilar gone, Hulu is without its Napoleon. A sale seems the likeliest exit strategy. Though given Hulu’s roller-coaster history (an IPO was explored then scrapped back in 2010), and the partners’ discomfort over committing to long-term licensing deals for their content (which is why the former sale talks broke down), whatever happens, there’s sure to be drama.

Fast Company

Tracking: Hulu's Next Act

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