Quincy Smith on Hulu

From Forbes:

"Yes, we're constantly talking to [Hulu]. We'd love the opportunity to do it, assuming that the deals make sense. I don't know Jason [Kilar, Hulu's chief executive], the guy they got from Amazon, though I certainly know a lot of people who know him and respect the heck out of him. If anyone could try and build a next-generation destination, it's probably him, based on his background.

I love everything about the joint venture and the notion of syndicating content with distribution partners that are already proven in the business, both in the video-destination and the widget business. But why--why still hold on to a destination [Web site]? That's a huge amount of infrastructure, that's a huge part of investment and frankly, a huge distraction."

Hulu does something - rumormill

TechCrunch set off a blogstorm of posts over the rumor that Hulu is buying Mojiti.

From TechCrunch:

"It is surprising that Hulu would use a third party platform for their service rather than build it themselves from the ground up. They’ve already missed their promised Summer 2007 launch date, however, and probably think the acquisition will get them to market faster."

Michael in the comments: "remember when they promised a mostly decentralized platform? no mention of that recently, and mojiti isn’t the right tech for that. I sense chaos and disorganization, not a smart strategic decision to buy v. build. And a new strategy to focus on a centralized, youtube-like site. And remember that Adobe already built all the hard parts of this and put it in the Flex platform. For some reason people are giving Hulu a lot of room before judging them. I prefer to judge them now."

From PaidContent:

"The exact role Mojiti will play technologically is unclear. NBBC’s technology was supposed to be the foundation for the distribution network—the distribution player will be skinned to match various destinations—but, in its previous incarnation, it hadn’t operated on the kind of scale Hulu requires. The destination portal will have its own video player, which is where what Feng and his team have been working on may best fit in.

Feng is just part of the shifting staff at Hulu, which started life with a team borrowed from NBCU and News Corp. Many of those involved at the senior level, including some whose managers expected to stay with the new venture, are in the midst of returning to their respective companies. The mantra I’ve heard: Kilar wants his own team."

Hulu: the hating game

NBCU gave everyone plenty of time to store up the hate for the newly named Hulu. So let the games begin.

From Techcrunch:

"Congratulations are in order to YouTube-competitor Hulu, which took just five months to come up with a name after announcing itself in March. CEO Jason Kilar says the name “captures the spirit of the service we’re building” in an open letter published today.

Just don’t translate that name to certain languages, because the name may capture significantly more of the spirit of the service than NBC and News Corp., the media giants behind Hulu, intended.

Given the litigious nature of online video, that is some serious irony. And you can bet that Hulu, and its parent companies NBC and News Corp., are going to be sending out one heck of a lot of cease and desist letters as soon as this thing launches."

From Silicon Valley Insider:

"For anyone keeping track, that means the venture now has a $100 million investment from Providence Equity, a $1 billion valuation, a CEO and a name. Great! Only a few more hurdles left! Hulu still has to deal with the fact that it:

• hasn't launched
• has 120 employees and a big burn rate (call it $10 million a year)
• has a deeply entrenched, globally dominant competitor
• is two years too late
• has been shunned by the other big dogs in the industry (CBS, Disney, Viacom)
• is a joint venture between two companies that hate each other."

From Terry Heaton:

"This portal has been so hyped as God’s gift to online video that any name they came up with would likely have bombed, especially with the tech community — which includes the people who’ve written the book on online video without the “help” of the networks or studios. Old media just doesn’t get that new media isn’t created in a board room with fancy consultants (oh shit, I’m a consultant!), because the results are usually just varnished horse crap. Hulu?

The problem is that the fuss over the stupid name casts a pall on what is really a smart move by NBC and Fox, namely creating a single portal for video instead of asking people to come to each branded site. Of course, it would be better if all networks were a part of this, and I think announcing the project without a name or a more complete partner list was a huge tactical error."

From Steve Sarfran: (Lost Remote)

"Three stages in newly named web product:

1. Everyone hates it, makes fun of it
2. People slowly adopt it, forget that they hated it
3. People start to use it either as a verb (”Google that”) or in comparison to inferior products (”It’s no flickr.”)"

Clown Co = Hulu

Fall is in the air (not really in Atlanta) and the branding exercise is over, NBCU and News Corp present Hulu.

From Techcrunch:

"This morning news broke about NBC Universal and News Corporation’s joint video venture, hitherto dubbed “Clown Co.”, after a press release was sent out by a Hulu.com representative claiming that “Hulu” was the new name for that venture.

Initially, I was a bit concerned that this could be merely a hoax, as no press releases were sent out by NBC or News Corp. themselves. However, after speaking with the Hulu representative, Christina Lee, and seeing the news spread across the circuit like vine, it does appear as though this announcement is authentic."

From Reuters:

"We just wanted a name that is short and easy to spell," Hulu spokeswoman Christina Lee said. "We like the idea that it rhymes with itself. We wanted a fun name."

From Ad Week:

"When it does launch, the site will allow fans to stream episodes of NBC series such as The Office and Friday Night Lights, along with the soon-to-launch remake of The Bionic Woman.

Meanwhile, Fox is planning to offer on-demand episodes of staples like The Simpsons and Mad TV as well as premiering shows such as the New Orleans-set cop drama K-Ville. In addition to Hulu.com, the sweeping venture will see these series distributed across the biggest sites on the Web, including AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo!.

"Why is Hulu the new venture's name? According to a note posted on the site by newly installed CEO Jason Kilar, it's meant to connote fun and simplicity. "Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce and rhymes with itself," he wrote.

"Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building. Our hope is that Hulu will embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world's premiere content when, where and how you want it."