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With all the multibillion dollar companies looking to bid on Hulu, it appears as if Google may want the streaming service provider just a little bit more than the competition. According to All Things D’s Peter Kafka, Google is putting their money where their mouth is and is prepared to offer a significantly higher dollar amount than Yahoo, Amazon or Dish Network. Although their were no sources given, Kafka went on to say,
Google seems to want something much more than that, and is willing to pay much more to get it. If you want to speculate, you could imagine Google asking for access to more content, for a longer period of time, and perhaps offering up a couple billion dollars more.
Since that’s not what Hulu’s owners have put on the table, “normally we would have thrown people out if they’d said that,” says an executive familiar with the sales process. But Google “indicated that there’s enough money” involved so that Hulu’s owners are at least thinking about continuing the discussion.
If you thought Google would be a little more frugal having spend $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility, Google did go on the record as saying this purchase wouldn’t stop them from making other big acquisitions. The only thing that could stop Google now are the overly cautious network executives and Hollywood studios who are made nervous with Google’s other online streaming service, YouTube. Hulu is scheduled to discuss all their bids later week and we’ll keep you posted.
[Via AllThingsD]
As with many things, I say this could be either very good or very bad…
sausage
Why the hell would GOOGLE buy HULU? They play too many ads on their site
Google TV, Android Market Television, etc. Reduction in advertisements is a likely possibility.
Google makes their money off of ads. It may seem like a different story with all that’s going on, but that’s the core idea. Look at a core feature of android now: Flash. Among other things what does flash allow? Ads.
This would be a fantastic edition to the Google Ecosystem in everything from Google TV to Android. The only thing I’m still confused about is how Google will differentiate the service between lets say Google TV and any other device that accesses Hulu if this buy out were to occur. Would they allow the usage to continue or make it exclusive to the PC, Android, and Google TV. I guess with contracts in place, they have no choice but to continue service to other devices.
I think it would be a good deal all around – Android finally would have more content to help them compete with Apple – but the networks will never let it happen… Look what they did to Google TV when it came out.
Hulu needs to be work for free on Mobile. i think its dumb that changing the screen size means I have to pay for it..
+1
I hope they buy Hulu and FIX the many things I hate about Hulu.
would love it if google got hulu
I think Google would really improve Hulu in a lot of ways, but I’m still hoping this rumor is false. I’d much rather see Google release a competitor to Hulu so they can compete, innovate, and push eachother to be better. That would be a lot better for the consumers than a buyout.
It probably has nothing to do with technology and more to do with the licenses that Hulu has for the content it streams. The same reason Google should buy Spotify and Pandora, because the licenses are already locked in.
Hmm and then Google competitors indirectly and directly will start pulling content from Hulu like what’s happening to Netflix. Steve Job is on Disney’s board and there are ABC content on there.
Disney would be locked-in to supply exclusive content for at least two years – that’s part of the acquisition deal.
This needs to happen. I’ve been waiting a long time for a really compelling reason to buy Google TV.
Have you watched Hulu? Have you seen the ads? Guess what Google does? Sells ad space. Google gives these services away knowing that people love free. Businesses know this and want to advertise to this large group. No other reasons.
There’s nothing particularly proprietary or interesting about the Hulu software… Hulu’s real value is it’s relationships with the content providers, and the fact that it’s already embedded in some set-top devices. Frankly I hate their browsing and searching and their 10ft interface hasn’t been updated in years.
I do think Google could easily build a replacement app easily. They should outbid Amazon and Dish, but if Yahoo is on top… just let them take it, watch the industry groan, and build a replacement.
Google TV, Motorola set top boxes, and Hulu…something is brewing.
The bought Motorola Mobility, not Motorola Corp they are two seperate entities now.
…At least according to all the news reports I’ve been reading, Motorola’s set-top boxes were included in that purchase.