The website for Hulu, NBC and News Corp.'s online-video joint venture, looks pretty. But the reality of getting ready for next week's launch? Very messy. A tipster tells us that a dozen members of the Hulu launch team are stuck on an agonizing "all-night" conference call. Also on the call: Executives from distribution partners including AOL and Yahoo. The topic of discussion? No doubt the fact that the site, days away from launch, isn't quite ready. Poor, unlucky souls. No wonder their old-media colleagues have nicknamed them "Hulusers." And I suppose that makes the videos on the YouTube-notgonnabe website Huluser-generated content.
"Hulusers" agonize on conference call
4:17 PM on Thu Oct 25 2007
By Owen Thomas
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Comments
OMG someone please be taping that call. And then spend hours whittling it down to just the funny parts.
It "looks pretty" because the shameless folks at Hulu used the same font as the iTunes store to go with the rounded corner marquees that are...the same as the ones from teh iTunes store.
Hulu's gonna be a blow out, alright...like a rotted truck tire doing 80mph down a mountain pass.
A little advice for NBC: just shut this thing down before it launches.
Huluser...
Is that pronounced "Who'll Use Her?" or "Hoo-Loser"?
I'm continue to be stunned that folks think hulu will tank. Hell, it's not even up yet!
How can ANYONE doubt Rupert Murdoch.
His track record is astonishing.He doesn't make mistakes.He has billions of dollars and is a very determined.When he launched a 4th network (Fox)
everybody laughed and predicted that it would be a miserable, very public failure for Mr. M. Where is Fox today? #1. His media empire is vast and very global.He and his media partners in Hulu,
NBC Universal, (and all their content, film libraries,all their related affiliates etc. including G.E. and many others. They've also thrown in a STARTING budgetof $100 million, and those deep, deep, pockets are bottomless.
So, let's review...Hulu's recipe for success:
Start with the biggest, most determined media mogol on the planet,toss in a few billion dollars,a film and television vault with content as rich and deep as any on the planet.
Then add a generous helping of media outlets (the most on the planet) to promote Hulu.Add an amazing
start-up team (the best money can buy}
I truly wish I could wager against those who predict failure for Hulu. Oh, they talk big now, but 2 years from now they will be nowhere to be found, saying
"I knew it would be a hit" (maybe that's why they don't use their real names)Mine is Don Bowman.
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