Hulu has shelved plans to expand the streaming service to the UK, citing failed negotiations with British broadcasters.
The extremely popular online video service has been a U.S. exclusive since its launch.
All content deals with the ITV and the BBC have fallen apart, mainly because both now have their own streaming services.
“Hulu’s talks with ITV have come to a halt because the broadcaster wants to focus on growing its own catch up service – ITV Player and not syndicate its content out to a third party at the moment. Conversations with Channel 4 and Five have also not come to any fruition because Hulu wants to sell the advertising inventory around both broadcasters’ content – like it does with US content - and this is not something either broadcaster is willing to concede ON. Hulu has told several people at the British broadcasters that it has been forced to abandon its UK expansion plans after failing to sign any content deals,” says a “senior TV executive,” via The Telegraph.
Hulu is the second most popular online video site in the United States behind YouTube.
Adds ITV executive Ben McOwen Wilson: “Hulu is a major success in the U.S. but the UK TV market is a different place. It is much more consolidated, which mean there are fewer online locations than in the U.S., which users need to visit to get access to their favourite content –- therefore there is less need for aggregators.”
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According to new data reported by The Guardian UK, the amount of UK teenagers sharing unauthorized music has fallen dramatically since 2007, while the amount of teens using streaming services has grown exponentially.
The data, based on a survey of 1000 14-to-18 year-olds, shows that pirates have moved to legal venues such as YouTube and Spotify among others.
Along with the streaming increase, up to 65 percent, illegal downloads dropped from 42 percent in December of 2007, to just 26 percent in January of 2009.
The report does state that perhaps the number has fallen so substantially for illegal downloads because users have moved on to copying music from friend’s MP3 players as well as sharing using Bluetooth.
Steve Purdham, CEO of We7, adds, via the Guardian: “They may not buy an album, though they have that opportunity, but you can sell them tour tickets and a T-shirt of their favourite band.”
Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, added about the report: “These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don’t think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry.”
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The Vodafone Music Store, which currently has over 1 million tracks available to users, has announced it will be dropping DRM copyright protection for the music while signing new deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music.
Vodafone says the deals are the first of their kind, allowing users on the Vodafone network to download DRM-free music directly to their handsets.
For users that have already purchased DRM-crippled tracks from the store, an upgrade to DRM-free MP3s will be available, free of charge.
“Music is central to many of our customers’ lives,” added Pieter Knook, Vodafone Internet Services Director. “By Vodafone pioneering DRM free on mobile and offering MP3s on PC, they will now have the freedom to download tracks from their favourite artists without any device restrictions allowing them to experience their music however they want it, wherever they are.”
