Hulu, the anti-YouTube, launches
Hulu, the NBC Universal-News Corp. joint venture designed to compete with video site YouTube, has launched a testing version of its site. But it is more of an anti-YouTube than a competitor, because it focuses less on user-generated content.
It comes after months of delay. NBC withdrew its video channel from YouTube last week, and also ditched Apple’s iTunes in favor of Amazon’s music service.
Hulu will be the exclusive online provider of videos from NBC and News Corp, and it will then syndicate the material to other sites, including AOL, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo, but apparently not YouTube.
Hulu got $100 million in backing from Providence Equity Partners, and arose because of animosity from NBC and News Corp toward YouTube, in part because that site kept hosting videos containing copyrighted videos.
NBC had warmed up to YouTube last year, working with the popular video site to promote its videos, until Jeff Zucker took over NBC in February. The company then changed its tune, and filed a lawsuit against YouTube.
You can register at the site, for a trial access.
http://www.hulu.com/embed/1734
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
