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Apple Considering a Bid For Hulu?

Rodimus Prime said:
you can get music but it took them long enough and only happen because if not the courts would of crack down on them.

Movies nope Apple products only.
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You clearly don't understand what happened regarding the music and DRM. You really need to do your research. Here's a hint: The music industry required Apple to put DRM in to be able to sell their music. Apple didn't want DRMed music and finally convinced the music industry to give it up.

DRM doesn't do anything good for retailers of digital download content as it hinders them from competing against physical discs and other traditional means. It's only the producers of content that want DRM and they are the ones that stipulate in contract with retailers like Apple, Hulu, and Netflix that they must provide some sort of DRM to be able to sell the content.
 
Tilpots said:
Throwing any amount of cash down on a non competitor is wasteful no matter how you spin it. Ignorant explanations are never necessary and their omission is appreciated. ;)
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Remind me, why did Apple buy Lala? Is it in your iTunes yet?
 
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Why would Apple buy Hulu? It doesn't give them any competitive advantage, and Hulu isn't all that well-liked in the first place. Pay money to watch ad-infested TV? That's what Comcast does already. Companies like Netflix or Dolby would be better money spent because they offer huge customer bases and/or giant patent arsenals that will corner the market. Hulu on the other hand exists only by the good graces of NBC and ABC.
 
Two birds with one stone...

This could be a good move for Apple. I think they will be launching a streaming iTunes to compete with Netflix in September and if Apple buys Hulu, they can get their hands on those digital distribution rights, AND get rid of a potential competitor at the same time.

iTunes Match won't be the only result of the pressure Apple has applied on the media industry lately. Streaming iTunes is going to have every movie and TV show instead of just the indiscriminate few that drop by on Netflix. The media industry will finally kneel and kiss Steve's ring. :)

Ok... maybe not every movie and TV show, but a much larger "streaming" library.
 
it seems no one has mentioned the obvious 1 2 punch to adobe. If :apple: gets Hulu then everything should be HTML5 from there on and no more flash needed for most of the people that watch shows in the US at least. :) Everyone else would follow w/ HTML5 after Hulu and Flash would be dare I say it dead or at least on it's last leg. Buying Hulu is for killing Flash first then the extras of owning it.
 
IzzyJG99 said:
I can't help but be worried that certain companies would pull their content licensing with Hulu if Apple bought it just because some people dislike Apple.
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You think folks at Disney, Comcast, and Fox dislike Apple more then each other? This is business, not kindergarten.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
sorry but do not want Apple to get Hulu. They would lock it down and make sure only Apple devices work on it.
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Exactly. Hulu is available on many devices which is what makes it so useful. Apple need to keep their hands of it. If they want to branch out they should start allowing iTunes rentals on other devices and see if they have the balls to compete with Vudu, Amazon, Blockbuster and the many other streaming services that you can use now. While Apple is content to have their little box and refuses to play with everyone else, every new consumer entertainment device is being preloaded with video services that continue to make AppleTV irrelevant.

And anyone who thinks the Web interface is bad, why are you using it? Hulu have a Mac interface application that works with an Apple remote just like any other media software interface. I never use the browser to watch Hulu.
 
Probably just a combination of cheaper, faster, easier way to acquire streaming rights for TV and movies. Steve made it pretty clear about Apple’s intentions with regards to redefining the living room, Hulu like streaming is a matter of when not if.
 
Apple "locking it down"?

I think the one thing I'm reasonably sure that Apple would do with a streaming opportunity would be to make the video files H.264, and the pages and effects would be written in HTML 5. Now, that's an open standard, endorsed by this or that standards committee, not proprietary code that belongs to one company, Adobe, and on which they make a lot of money. But that doesn't matter because Apple is the bad guy. The site is, itself, a possible bonanza for MPEG LA, the patent consortium, and some kind of money would be made off it, so yes, royalties would be earned. But fear not! The inventors of these very cool codecs would be rewarded for their inventions. Why not? Now, because they're scared of piracy and open source, they're being moderate. Sometime this decade, their licenses are up. They'll need to invent something new and better. Where is that a bad system? In Soviet Russia, where the codecs invent you?

HTML 5 is far more important than Flash, an outmoded, indirect and wasteful way of doing video. HTML5 and H.264 are lightweight and importantly much more open than Flash.

The great hero of "open" tries to go into the tv business and they sell what, 50? Why? No movies. No shows people want to see. Can't Google pay for content? That's not open. That's monopolism.
 
Definitely a good move for Apple. Instead of their own subscription service why not buy into one. :cool:
 
newagemac said:
You clearly don't understand what happened regarding the music and DRM. You really need to do your research. Here's a hint: The music industry required Apple to put DRM in to be able to sell their music. Apple didn't want DRMed music and finally convinced the music industry to give it up.

DRM doesn't do anything good for retailers of digital download content as it hinders them from competing against physical discs and other traditional means. It's only the producers of content that want DRM and they are the ones that stipulate in contract with retailers like Apple, Hulu, and Netflix that they must provide some sort of DRM to be able to sell the content.
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oh I know the produces wanted it. But look at Apple. They never let anyone else use fairplay. Hell they actively blocked anyone else from having it work on their devices. We saw court cases pop up and the writing was on the wall. If Apple did not give or at the very least start doing some real pushing they would of been forced to licenses it out.

It was never about "oh it is good for the consumers." It was more Apple knew it was going to get hit with Anti trust and loss a few years down the road. The writing was on the wall and Apple knew it. They were pretty smart about it.
 
I'm just happy Microsoft is out of the list of bidders. The first thing they would have done is force everyone to download Silverlight to keep using it.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I wonder if Apple would continue to provide hulu plus on the Xbox?
 
Don't they just need the licenses for the content? What does Hulu do that the iTunes Store doesn't? Why would Apple fracture their video experience?
 
Rodimus Prime said:
sorry but do not want Apple to get Hulu. They would lock it down and make sure only Apple devices work on it. Honestly I do not see much use for Hulu for Apple. Google would be my first vote. Apple the last. AT&T just one step above Apple.
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That's exactly what would happen and I wonder if the DOJ would block such a buy.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Leaping Tortois said:
To be honest, apple will likely lock hulu down to their devices and restrict it's use. Probably become a paid only service. I'd much rather someone like Google take over it, and integrate it into youtube.
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Actually I could see hulu being included as part of icloud services. As for locking it down who cares when everyone will have an iPad and iPhone
 
Laird Knox said:
Huh, somebody should tell Apple that their movies don't work on Windows.
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movies play only on iTunes which is an Apple product. So much for that attempted.

Leave the computer well then it is ONLY apple products. I see you were doing the classic twisting of words when you knew exactly what I meant.
 
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