Tech Giants Bid to Acquire Hulu Online Video Service

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are all reportedly bidding to buy out online video service, Hulu.com. But they all have different reasons for considering the move.

For those who aren't aware of it, Hulu is one of the most popular legal video streaming services. It allows users in the US to see recent and archived programming from several major American networks and cable channels, with viewing available on computers, smartphones, tablets and directly on some TV sets.

It had appeared Hulu was going to join several other tech companies over the next few years by cashing in through public share offering, a tactic that's already proven lucrative for business networking site LinkedIn, and looks almost inevitable for Facebook. However, Hulu has decided against the idea, prompting speculation it's looking for a straight sale.

Yahoo Makes The Opening Bid

News of a potential sale was bolstered by reports that Yahoo has approached the company to make an unsolicited offer. That didn't immediately prove successful, but has prompted Hulu to hire the services of two investment banks to deal with future bids more formally.

Microsoft is also said to have had talks with Hulu since the Yahoo bid. It appears a Microsoft takeover would be based around its hardware services: while Hulu is already available via the Xbox, a buy out could mean it would be possible to build the service directly into Windows 8 computers and tablets.

Xbox Deal Could Be PS3 Spoiler

A deal could also bring straight financial benefits for the company by letting it gain the revenue from ads on Hulu, but it could potentially allow it to control or restrict access to the service on rival devices, such as Sony's PlayStation 3. However, that might raise eyebrows among competition regulators. (Source: seattlepi.com)

Google, which has also begun talks, would appear to be more interested in Hulu's content. At the moment, YouTube has two major business limitations: it lacks legal content from the major US TV networks, making it less attractive to viewers; and while it's hardly unheard of for users to upload unauthorized clips of such shows, Google would face major legal problems if it tried to sell advertising along with those clips.

Owning Hulu would help Google bridge the gap between online amateur clips and mainstream broadcasting. (Source: latimes.com)