Google in talks to buy Hulu: report

July 1, 2011

Google is in preliminary talks to acquire the online video site Hulu

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A view of the headquarters of the internet search engine company Google in Mountain View, California. Google is in preliminary talks to acquire the online video site Hulu, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website, citing anonymous sources familiar with the discussions.

Google is in preliminary talks to acquire the online video site Hulu, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website Friday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the discussions.

Hulu's owners have met with Google and other prospective buyers including Yahoo! and Microsoft, the newspaper reported.

The site, which broadcasts television shows through on-demand streaming, is owned by a trio of traditional media giants -- Disney, NBC Universal and News Corp. -- and Providence Equity Partners.

Google is already a major presence in the online through its control of , and a tie-up with Hulu would further consolidate the web search giant's strength in Internet broadcasting.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hulu had been approached by a potential buyer after having renounced its desire to go public.

Founded in 2008, Hulu is only available in the United States. It lets users watch a selection of television shows for free with advertisements, though subscribers can also pay a fee to watch the shows on connected televisions or gaming consoles.

(c) 2011 AFP

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fmfbrestel
Jul 01, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Sweet, Hulu is a great site but has been held back by their inability to attract enough advertising dollars. Google could solve that problem overnight and make a youtube/hulu offering to strongly compete with netflix.
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