What’s the point of Hulu? That’s the question being asked by some in the wake of the news that Disney – one of the three co-owners in the online VoD service – has licensed hit shows like Lost, Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy to competitor Netflix Instant (which itself came two months after NBC Universal, another Hulu parent, licensed 35 seasons of Saturday Night Live to Netflix). The New York Post quotes an anonymous source as saying,
Hulu has to pick its poison [about whether to charge for content available elsewhere or offer a free service]. It really makes it hard if the Hulu partners are going to license their content like this.
The Post suggests that the Disney deal has put pressure on Hulu to acquire more content so that it can better compete with Netflix Instant in future, although the company may be looking to expand in other directions to avoid comparisons; the company has recently announced plans to expand internationally, and is looking to produce original exclusive content in future, two areas in which Netflix has experienced difficulty.
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