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For the fruit also known as hulu, see calabash.
Hulu is a website that offers commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC and many other networks and studios. Hulu videos are currently offered only to users in the United States.[3] In order to ensure that no international users outside the U.S. have access to the video channel, Hulu has blocked many anonymous proxies and virtual private networks. Hulu provides video in Flash Video format, including many films and shows that are available in 360p and 480p. Hulu also provides web syndication services for other websites including AOL, MSN, MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Comcast's fancast.com. Hulu is a joint venture of NBC Universal (General Electric), Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp) and ABC Inc. (The Walt Disney Company)[4], with funding by Providence Equity Partners, which made a US$100 million equity investment and holds a 10% stake.[5]
[edit] Name
The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese words, hulu (simplified Chinese: 葫芦; traditional Chinese: 葫蘆; pinyin: húlú; Wade-Giles: hu-lu) "calabash, bottle gourd" and hulu (simplified Chinese: 互录; traditional Chinese: 互錄; pinyin: hùlù; Wade-Giles: hu-lu) "interactive recording." The company blog explains:
[edit] HistoryThe Hulu venture was announced in March 2007 with AOL, MSN, Facebook, and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners."[8] Jason Kilar was named the CEO in June.[9][10] The name Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live, with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their email addresses for the upcoming beta test.[11] In October, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, and later allowed users to invite friends.[12] Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12, 2008.[13] Hulu began an advertising campaign during NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII with an initial ad starring Alec Baldwin titled "Alec in Huluwood."[14] The ad intended to humorously reveal "the shocking secret behind Hulu," portraying the site as being an "evil plot to destroy the world."[15] Advertisements have since aired featuring Eliza Dushku, Seth MacFarlane and Denis Leary. On April 30, 2009, Disney announced that it would join the venture, purchasing a 27% stake in Hulu.[4] At an industry conference on October 21, 2009, News Corporation Deputy Chairman Chase Carey stated that Hulu "needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business" and that it would likely start charging for at least some content by 2010.[16] Carey's comment jibes with other News Corp. heads, including Rupert Murdoch who has expressed a desire to charge for content with a number of on-line units.[17] [edit] FeaturesHulu distributes video both on its own website and syndicates its hosting to other sites,[18] and allows users to embed Hulu clips on their websites.[13] In addition to NBC, ABC and FOX programs and movies, Hulu carries shows from other networks such as Comedy Central, Current TV, PBS, USA Network, Bravo, Fuel TV, FX, Speed, Big Ten Network, Syfy, Style, Sundance, E!, G4, Versus, A&E, Oxygen and online comedy sources such as Onion News Network.[19] In November 2009, Hulu also began to establish partnerships with record labels to host music videos and concert performances on the site, including EMI in November 2009,[20] and Warner Music Group in December 2009.[21] [edit] Watching Hulu on TVConsumers can now also watch Hulu on their TVs, according to Popular Science’s Dec. 2009 Top 100 Innovations of the Year issue, by downloading MediaMall Technologies’ PlayOn software to their PC which works with their networked Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or DLNA-compatible device connected to their TV.[22] [edit] Hulu DesktopHulu has released a beta version of Hulu Desktop, a standalone program that allows users to watch Hulu programming without using their web browser. The program uses a 10-foot user interface and is designed to be compatible with existing computer remote controls. It requires a Flash player and runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X. Hulu Desktop does not currently support all content accessed though normal browser means. [edit] AvailabilityCurrently, Hulu's content is only available in the United States with licensing reasons cited.[23]. An exception to this was Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was made available without regional restrictions for a limited time on Hulu, and was since added to the iTunes Store.[24] Hulu was planning on launching in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland September 2009 but this has now been delayed to 2010.[25] About 10,000 hours of content from American networks will be available as well as, it is hoped, content from British networks BBC, ITV and Channel 4.[26] As of February 2009, Hulu has pulled its content from CBS Corp.'s TV.com, and from Boxee, a software firm that makes Internet video suitable for viewing on a large screen, like a television connected to a PC.[27] However, Hulu worked with PlayOn, which when combined with a, Xbox 360, PS3, or certain other devices would allow playback of Hulu content on a TV. Also, Boxee produced a workaround for Hulu support.[28] [edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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