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Do that Hulu, U-do so well
October 31, 2007

Among heavily trafficked web portals and countless blogs, traditional television programming is about to become much more ubiquitous over the Internet.

The online video service Hulu, a partnership between Fox and NBC, launched this week with a beta program from its own website, and it began rolling out the service to its web partners Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Myspace, and Comcast's Fancast.com, which can use it however they please.

The Hulu player is viral and can be embedded anywhere on the Internet -- blogs, websites or Myspace pages. You can show short clips or full length programs -- with ease. I watched the hour-long first episode of The Office season 4 last night. The quality is far superior to the granular pixels of Google's YouTube.

The only glitch I found was a pleasant surprise: Hulu hasn't yet inserted the promised commercials that are supposed to support the venture, so the show ran without interruption.

I see this becoming the hub for traditional programming. It's streamed, on-demand with content from over 15 cable networks, like Bravo, E! Entertainment, FX, Sci Fi, USA, and independent, web-centric content providers.

Last week, the company signed deals with Sony Pictures Television and MGM, to snag 1,000 hours of programming.

And a Hulu spokesperson dropped hints that fee-based new release movies could follow.

I'm close to chucking my Tivo and monthly service charge out the window, because I only use it for catching missed shows. The full line up of shows is available on Hulu.com, but here a list of some my favorite offered:

24, 30 Rock, American Dad, Andy Barker P.I., Arrested Development, Bionic Woman, The Blues Brothers, The Breakfast Club, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Conan the Barbarian, Family Guy, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Hill Street Blues, House, The Jerk, K-Ville, King of the Hill, Kojak, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, October Sky, The Office, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Sideways, Simon & Simon, The Simpsons and WKRP in Cincinnati

Content providers include: Bravo, CNET, Comedy Time, E! Entertainment Television, Ford Models, Fox Atomic, Fox Reality, FX Networks, FUEL TV, G4, Golf Channel, IGN, Movieola, National Geographic, Oxygen, SPEED, Sundance Channel, Sci Fi Network, The Fight Network, The Style Network, X17 Online, USA Network, Versus and more.

Posted by Ned Randolph on October 31, 2007 | Comments (0)