Valleywag
online video
Posts Tagged “
Hulu
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online video
online video
Mark Cuban: "Hulu is kicking YouTube's ass"
Two years ago, Mark Cuban wrote: "Would Google be crazy to buy YouTube? No doubt about it. Moronic would be an understatement of a lifetime." Since then, Google did buy it — for $1.65 billion — and the site's become so popular its actually the Web's third most popular search engine all on its own. Does that mean Cuban has changed his mind? No, no, it does not. The reason is Hulu, Cuban explains in 802 words, which we've edited down to 100, below. More »
confirmed
Hulu lands Viacom's Colbert and Stewart
Now showing on NBC Universal and News Corp. Web video joint venture Hulu: the Daily Show's Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert from Comedy Central. Viacom, which owns the Comedy Central network, has long hinted it might join Hulu — we heard rumors the deal was done in March — but until now had only announced agreements with Joost, the failing Internet video company founded by Skype founders Nikolas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. More »
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ABC tops online, with CBS a comer
ABC has the most popular television network website, just a shade more popular than NBC.com among the six broadcasters sampled by HitWise. But both websites are down in their relative share of the online audience, while CBS has greatly increased visits. Why? Well, for starters, CBS is ahead in the year-to-date ratings race for actual television. The top draws to the network sites are, once again, competitions and other game shows — American Idol was the top draw for Fox, Deal or No Deal for NBC and Dancing With the Stars for ABC. Almost every site, however, kept users on longer, with the average user spending three more minutes on CBS. Only visits to NBC got shorter, probably because some users are going to Hulu to watch full episodes of shows like The Office and 30 Rock
copyfight
Redlasso hires former CBS CEO to avoid lawsuit
Michael Jordan, former CEO of CBS, has been tapped by Redlasso as an advisor, presumably to glad-hand the TV companies which sent the company a cease and desist letter last week. The startup has cobbled together a fair-use defense; the Electronic Frontier Foundation told Valleywag they're watching the case but declined to weigh in. But if Redlasso were going to fight the networks in court, it would have hired lawyers, not a dealmaker like Jordan. The company has been in talks with the networks for years. So what went wrong? Hulu. More »
online video
Joost's last, best hope nixed by Adobe
The latest iteration of Joost, the once-hot, now decidedly not video startup from the people who brought you Skype, will work in your browser — but only if you download a plugin from Joost. And while Joost struggles to find good content, Adobe is rolling file sharing into its Flash player, beating Joost's new plugin to the punch. NBC has worked with file-sharing content delivery platforms in the past, and Hulu — a site backed with quality content — uses Flash. I'm sure the Joost developers are tech whizzes, but even our journalist math puts them on the wrong side of this equation. (Photo by Job D.)
online advertising
Why does Madison Avenue have to beg its way into Web videos?
Hulu, the Web-video venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., reached nearly 900,000 visitors last month, according to Compete. Too bad that its 15-second ads and spots spliced into the middle of videos aren't where ad agencies want to spend their clients' money. They want to spend it the way LonelyGirl15's backers do — on product placements. "Just placing ads like prerolls are not a big interest to us, frankly," Digitas EVP Carl Fremont told Silicon Alley Insider. "That's just taking the old TV model and adapting it to a new screen. We would rather work with a producer and develop custom content." Which, of course, is the even older TV model — the one that led Procter & Gamble to invent the soap opera.
online video
NBC Direct still doesn't work
Liz Gannes, a veteran online video reporter whom I've worked with and is no slouch when it comes to getting almost any newfangled content application to function, couldn't get NBC's relaunched video-on-demand software to work. The offering is powered by a file-sharing download process from Pando, but not much good if users can't even install the software. Isn't there a company that already has a delivery and payment system for 720p video content from the networks — one that NBC used to work with? Meanwhile, to get your 30 Rock fix online, Gannes says stick with Hulu. Just looking at the listed bugs on the download page would be enough to scare off anyone who's confused by file-sharing sites.
Hulu nabs Diggnation and other Revision3 shows
Hulu, the online video site created as a joint venture between NBC and News Corp., will distribute shows from content startup Revision3, which focuses on shows broadly related to technology. Now you can easily switch between WWE wrestling matches and watching Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose getting drunk without having to turn off your laptop. [Silicon Alley Insider]
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Kara Swisher calls Hulu lead developer a 12 year old because, well, he looks like one
Here's the highlight from Kara Swisher's a tour of the Hulu offices. Hulu CEO Kilar takes Swisher into a group of cubicles reserved for developers. Hulu, Kilar says, was developed "between here and Beijing." Then Kilar walks over to a desk where what seems to be a child sits. "I want to introduce you to a little-known secret," Kilar says. How cute, Kilar wants to introduce Swisher to his kid. "Eden, take your earpieces out," Kilar tells the boy, before pulling them out of the boy's ears himself. The kid turns around and Kilar begins to explain that ""This guy coded—" but Swisher interrupts. "Oh, hello 12 year old, hello." Kilar: "He's legal. Over 21." The kid: "Barely."
online video
Friday Night Lights will continue, but available on torrent sites months before Hulu
Critically acclaimed but chronically low-rated jock opera Friday Night Lights managed to sneak in a third season thanks to a unique deal between NBC Universal and DirecTV. But the network has built an interesting window into the release — the episodes will premiere on DirecTV's "The 101" channel in October, but not air in prime time until February. The episodes also won't be available on Hulu until NBC airs them next year, which makes no sense at all. More »
online video
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar mum on Janet Jackson nipple-slip question
When asked whether he'd post a Web clip featuring Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction, where Justin Timberlake yanked off more of her top than the two half-time performers say they'd planned to, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar deflected I Want Media's question as "theoretical.... I don't want to go there." But the site shows R-rated movies and asks users to confirm their age before showing the racier (and gorier) stuff. Kilar himself has played up the Hulu feature that lets viewers pick particular clips to search on and embed in their blogs. Which leads us to wonder: Is Hulu's target YouTube's audience, or Mr. Skin's? (Photo by AP/Ron Wurzer)
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar says the site will soon allow users to pick the ads they 
online video
Hulu videos open to all, with Time Warner and Viacom waiting in wings
Tomorrow, Hulu will finally open its doors to the wider public. Rumor has it Time Warner and Viacom soon plan to join the site, which is backed by NBC and News Corp., through nonexclusive distribution deals. CBS digital guru Quincy Smith, however, remains pessimistic: "If the Web is just another way to watch TV, I think I'm going to slit my wrists." Below, the best friend of former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel's daughter in the kind of short form clip Hulu hopes the public will take to. More »
online video
Beam me up! CBS.com streams full episodes of "Star Trek"
When I was a lot younger, I taped — onto VHS! — all of the original Star Trek episodes when they aired at 3 a.m. on Friday nights, so I could watch them later. If only I had waited 13 years. CBS has put all three seasons of Star Trek online for anyone to view, along with a number of other old shows to the Audience Network, including The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O and MacGyver. More »
NBC will stream old TV shows on NBC.com, just like already does through Hulu. And through NBC Direct. And on the box in your living room. [SAI]
online video
Yahoo Video relaunches, and hints at video on Flickr
Yahoo Video has soft-launched a new website, in a move which speaks to both the potential of Yahoo and the company's utter disorganization. It has all the necessaries in the age of YouTube and Hulu: clips created by amateurs and professionals, playlists, and "exclusive" content. The latter, if true, is refreshing: Thanks to syndication deals which allow the endless regurgitation of video from site to site, most of the Hollywood-born clips on the Web are numbingly similar. The site also has a tantalizing promise: Video on Flickr. More »
rumormonger
