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.”
Result for: telegraph
According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, Germany group Deutsche Telekom is on the verge of submitting a bid for the third largest mobile phone operator in the United States, Sprint Nextel.
With Sprint Nextel’s market valuation topping 10.6 billion, Deutsche Telekom would surely need to call on a cash injection from shareholders, among whom is the German government itself with a 32 percent stake.
The report cites sources familiar with the matter as saying the company will make a bid for Sprint within the coming weeks.
The news comes after Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile business in the UK announced a merger with France Telecom’s Orange UK arm, which would result in the largest provider in the mobile phone market in Britain.
The report states that neither Deutsche Telekom or Sprint Nextel would provide a comment on the story.
Result for: telegraph
According to a Telegraph report, Microsoft is set to launch their own streaming music site which will offer free streaming and pay-for downloads.
Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, adds: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently. It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”
Spotify allows for free streaming as well, but users must listen to a minute of advertising every 30 minutes of playback. Users can also purchase a premium account for £9.99 a month which removes the ads.
Says Bale, via the Telegraph: “We are looking at how other similar businesses have structured their business models and trying to figure out what will work best for both consumer and Microsoft.”
The official also noted that service could eventually be tied directly to Xbox Live but did not elaborate.
