The pending $30 billion merger of Comcast and NBC Universal has Internet denizens buying gold, raiding grocery markets and hoarding water, as they wait for the coming Hulu apocalypse. Hulu, which floats around the second or third most popular US online video site after YouTube, is a joint venture from NBCU, News Corp and Disney, offering Internet shelter for full-length TV shows to be seen for free with a few ads sprinkled in.
Comcast, however, has been championing the TV Everywhere model, which puts professionally produced content on the Web, but behind a pay-wall. Only existing Comcast customers get access to its Xfinity service, and what they can see there depends on their Comcast subscriptions.
Once Comcast owns a part of Hulu, predictions are saying that not even the Fates themselves can keep Hulu free. This, according to many of the same predictions, would cause an upswing in piracy and a backlash against Hulu’s owners and its content partners. Rumors also say Viacom’s recent content pull-out from Hulu was over money and the issue of potential pay-for restrictions.
Most of the content on Hulu is also available elsewhere, generally on the TV channel’s own Web site, but it’s one-stop-shop appeal has had a huge impact on the Net across the globe. When a similar offering launched in Russia, it not only looked remarkably similar to Hulu’s, but the service repeatedly called itself Hulu-like in its launch statements.
A source that’s involved with Comcast’s plans and its authentication system said he expects Comcast to try to succeed in turning Hulu into “another authentication portal for its TV Everywhere plans. It’ll be a destination for those with the right subscription, and everyone else (News Corp and Disney) will benefit for the money involved.”
He said some content will still be available to everyone, but a significant portion of the site will be behind a pay-wall. The one interesting note he said was proposed, but not yet on the table, was inviting other cablecos to join in the effort. “In some markets, they might be willing to share access to Hulu and charge those cable companies some licensing (and other) fees,” the source said, adding that the move is being looked at as a way to avoid fallout from “potentially killing Hulu for a lot of people.”
NBC has already said it has “no plans” to remove any shows it currently offers on the Internet. Neither it nor Comcast will say that its content will stay free, and neither is saying anything about Hulu’s future. Comcast’s TV Everywhere plan gives Comcast subscribers a portal to watch content stemming from Comcast.net. All the content available to them can be seen on its Xfinity platform on the web site, but Comcast’s service also allows individual networks to set up their own online video sites that are available only to subscribers authenticated by Comcast. For this, think HBO’s Go; this is what many bet are on for Hulu’s future. It’s a tough choice for Hulu’s parents to deal with. For them, money has always been the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room.