Monthly Archives: July 2011

What if no one buys Hulu?

July 6, 2011
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Chief Mouseketeer Bob Iger insisted Wednesday that Hulu’s owners are committed to selling the video streaming service.  But what if no one is committed to buying?

Of the half-dozen companies known so far to have been invited in to kick the tires by Hulu’s bankers, only one, Amazon, strikes me as a plausible buyer. The rest seem to have been chosen simply because they have deep pockets (Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon), or, in the case of Yahoo, because it has already expressed interest.

Google: Hulu is owned by the same networks that blocked Google TV from accessing their online content and have largely refused to license their content to YouTube. Given that history, I’m skeptical they would now agree to let Google buy Hulu. Google has also been attracting increased scrutiny from regulators, including the FTC’s current anti-trust investigation of Google’s handling of search results. Read more »

Netflix looks south

July 5, 2011
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Streaming Video Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will not be at the Allen & Co. mogul-fest in Sun Valley this week, sending chief content officer Ted Sarandos instead. Turns out, Hastings had better things to do, like announcing Netflix’s expansion into 43 countries in Latin America.

Starting later this year, Netflix users in Mexico, South America, Central America and the Caribbean will be able to watch a mix of local and TV and movie content streamed to their connected TVs or CE devices, as well as PCs and mobile devices.

The move is a smart one by Netflix as it looks to build its international business beyond its initial foray into Canada. The Latin American market has an estimated user base of 215 million, compared to 245 million in the U.S., according to Think Equity analyst Atul Bagga, providing a lot of room for growth. While the European market is larger, Netflix likely faces many fewer hurdles by heading south instead of east: Read more »

Royal tech; ICE-ing infringers; sun setting on Sun Valley

July 5, 2011
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First Read England’s hottest export, Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will land in LA this week to attend the Variety Venture Capital and New Media Summit. The royal newlyweds will be on hand to promote Tech City, the British government’s effort to build up a U.K. version of Silicon Alley around a cluster of tech startups in London’s East End.

Back in England, however, tech companies are pushing the government take more concrete steps.
On Monday, Silicon Roundtable, a coalition of British digital technology groups, called on Prime Minister David Cameron to fast track proposed reforms to British copyright law included in the recent Hargreaves report as a way to spur the growth of new digital businesses. Read more »