Can Google Get Their Hands on Hulu?

Hulu is up for sale? Take a look at the biggest bidders.

The streaming video site, Hulu is up for sale and it's causing quite the stir. As anyone in the Tech industry knows, when large companies that have been experiencing the type of growth that Hulu has go up for sale, it's big news.

Of course, the first step is determining what the company is worth. Hulu has over a million Hulu Plus subscribers, and that number might go up as more people leave Netflix after their price hike, and look for a cheaper way to get streaming videos. The reports about the company's worth range from $500 million and go up to $2 billion. When you're talking about a company worth that much, or with that high of an asking price, you can be sure that Google is there, driving up the bids to make sure that they can get their hands on the company.

Since Google already owns YouTube, acquiring Hulu might be a feather in their cap, not to mention, it makes good business sense. It's surprising to me that the Hulu service is even up for sale at all. When I looked into it, it seems that after Comcast bought NBC, who originally backed Hulu, the streaming site was left behind a little. The other Hulu backers, Disney and News Corp. weren't keen on working with Comcast. All of that friction is what is driving the idea of selling off the company. Of course, it's still in the early stages of the game and the company's backers might find a way to work together.

Aside from Google, there are other familiar names that are looking to buy the company. Amazon, who already has streaming content with Amazon Prime and Amazon Video on Demand has been looking at Hulu. Dish Network and Yahoo also are in the running. DirectTV reportedly placed a bid, but then took it back.

Realistically, if the site gets sold, the only two real contenders are Google and Amazon. Dish Network is still struggling after their deal with Blockbuster and Yahoo just doesn't have the cash to keep up with competition in this fight. However, both Google and Amazon are sitting on piles of cash and are hungry to acquire new sites to expand their markets. So, who do you think will get it and which one could do the best with it?

The case for Google:

• Google TV is really awesome. Although the sales haven't reflected this, I think it is not because the product is bad, it's more a failure of marketing and content. If they could get the content that Hulu provides, Google TV could make a huge comeback.

• Google could offer the streaming movies with a free option that has AdSense ads. They are making a fortune with YouTube doing just that. If they could expand YouTube to include full length movies without copyright issues, it would be good for Google and good for the users.

• Hulu could be the push that Google + needs. They could integrate movie watching with the Google + Hangouts, making watching shows with friends easy and fun.

• Providing Hulu Plus exclusively to Android users would make Android an even more attractive option.

The Case For Amazon:

• Amazon offers one stop books, music and DVDs. Right now, their Amazon Prime streaming service is suffering from a lack of content that people actually want to watch.Having Hulu would change all of that.

• Amazon can use Hulu as a way to sell DVD copies of the movies.

• Amazon has brought greatness to every brand they buy and could do wonders for Hulu.

It's anyone's guess who will end up the winner in this, but you can be sure that if the company actually sells, Hulu will be the winner in this because they stand to make billions.

 

Who do you think will end up with Hulu? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.


By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for TechCareersBlog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.