While AllThingsD doesn’t have details on Google’s supposed offer, Peter Kafka writes that in addition to Amazon, Yahoo, and the Dish Network, now Google has made moves to buy Hulu, the online TV site.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that Yahoo, Amazon and Dish are all expected to offer between $1.5-$2 billion for Hulu, in exchange for the free site, its subscription service and rights to exclusive content for at least two years. As opposed to entering this bidding war, it seems that Google is throwing its golden weight around. Kafka writes, “Rather than bid on what Hulu’s owners have offered for sale, Google has proposed a different acquisition, on a larger scale, say people familiar with the sales process.”
With the expected relaunch of Google TV in the U.S. this fall and the upcoming UK launch of Google TV in early 2012, Google’s interest in Hulu’s content will turn a lot of wheels and cogs to click right into place. I’m betting Google will order the executive tasting menu for a few billion more- meaning a wider array of exclusive content for a longer period of time.
With YouTube and Hulu in its basket, Google will be poised to own the Web video space, which I’m sure will bring up a fair stint of antitrust investigations. AllThingsD reports that Hulu’s owners “don’t seem entirely convinced that they want to sell the site at all. Disney CEO Bob Iger told reporters earlier this summer that he intended to sell the site, but News Corp. chief operating officer Chase Carey has floated the notion Hulu’s owners will hang on to it.”
My bet? We’ll see a Google-Hulu acquisition just in time for Christmas.
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