Apple Category
Apple’s innovations and steps towards becoming dominant in the broadband video sector.
Apple’s name has been thrown into the ring as one of the many contenders looking to take Hulu and do something amazing with it. But with a list of suitors growing daily I wouldn’t bet on Apple being the winner at this stage.
Hulu Suitors
Hulu is up for sale, that is now definitive. But we still don’t know who’ll be buying the U.S.-based online video service, or even which companies are in the running. We have a got fair idea, however, and it’s pretty much all the usual suspects.
Those usual suspects being Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google. Of those, the latter seems unlikely, even though Google would love to take Hulu under its wing, and Microsoft has all but pulled out of the bidding process. Which leaves Yahoo!.
Yahoo! is thought to be keen on a deal and willing to pay $2 billion for the company if content was exclusive for five years. Terms which News Corp., Walt Disney, Comcast, and Providence Equity are unlikely to agree to.
But wait, what about Apple?
We may have entered a new year, but that hasn’t changed the trend for people cutting the cord. And despite the cable companies still denying the whole notion is a myth, a new survey suggests more people are gearing up to make the move.
It looks as though Apple could have a minor, at least by its standards, hit on its hands with the new Apple TV. Whether the admittedly-impressive early sales figures will continue in the longterm remains to be seen, especially with Google TV on the horizon.
Another day, another big media boss comes out against Apple’s plans to revolutionize online video. And this one really doesn’t look like he’ll be backing down anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter.
Apple has big plans to open up a TV content rental market to the mainstream. However, to make it work it needs to complete backing of most of the big networks and content creators. And if Warner Bros. example is duplicated that just isn’t going to happen.
