Google, Among Others, Considering Bid for Hulu

Google apparently is among the companies that Hulu advisors have reached out to as they begin to hunt for a bidder, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo apparently also is interested in potentially bidding. Hulu's bankers were setting up meetings with a wide array of technology and media companies, though, and it remains unclear whether Hulu's owners would be interested in seeing Google, with its YouTube ambitions, get the asset. At the same time, some would argue that Hulu is essentially hobbled, strategically, because its media owners do not agree on strategy, and in any case remain profoundly "conflicted" about how aggressive they ought to be in encouraging online and over the top distribution.

What seems clear enough is that only an owner primarily interested in distribution alone could give Hulu the marketing push it might require. Right now, Hulu can't clearly push the service as hard as others might, because it would like to succeed, but not too much; wants to grow new channels and protect existing channels.

Google, Among Others, Considering Bid for Hulu - WSJ.com (subscription required)