If you live in the UK and have been waiting to get in on some Hulu action, you can forget about it. Hulu has reportedly abandoned its plan to bring the popular US based service to the UK after talks failed to gain any traction.
According to the Telegraph.co.uk, “Hulu, the US video aggregator, has been forced to abandon plans to launch a UK version of its web TV service after talks with the major British broadcasters have collapsed”. They state that the negotiators for Hulu were unable to gain any traction in the UK among senior broadcasting executives. “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.”
Essentially the TV networks want to grow out their own service and not be dependent on a third party to distribute its content. Because of this, Hulu’s business model does not align with that of UK broadcasters. The Telegraph also reports that a source close to Hulu has said that it has not completely ruled out a service launch in the UK, but this setback will take some time to overcome.
Hulu has been a major success in the United States and this news will surely come as a disappointment to those living in the UK; what is not certain though is how this plays out for the rest of Europe.
21 Comments - Add comment