Comments on: Why Verizon should buy Hulu

By: DavidS

DavidS — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:26:06 +0000

It would be a shame if it went to a PE group, but I wouldn’t be surprised given the pump-and-dump bubble mentality out there in techland at present. PE groups don’t give a rat’s a** about anything other than flipping companies to make a quick profit. They do this by dressing up their accounting, laying off workers, and saddling the company with debt to prepare it for sale to a greater fool.

By: Mike Manzo

Mike Manzo — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:37:36 +0000

I agree with Ryan. To add to the argument already laid out, Verizon, along with other carriers, should be considering purchases or partnerships with big players like Hulu. Beyond the business objective alignments that Ryan mentions in this piece, carriers are constantly being left out of the equation when it comes to content providers like Hulu and Netflix. Carriers have devolved into a traffic delivery service, and no longer have any say in what goes across the networks—but they constantly take the heat for quality of service problems. Verizon and other carriers should seriously consider how services like Hulu will impact them, and start aligning themselves more with these players before they become obsolete.

By: Paul Sweeting

Paul Sweeting — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:50:49 +0000

That would be the best outcome for Hulu, in my view. Whether a private equity player would see enough value there to beat out Verizon or Google or Amazon if it got into a bidding war is another question. If that were to happen, my guess is that some existing player would pay stupid money for it for stupid reasons.

By: Ryan Lawler

Ryan Lawler — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:53:33 +0000

Paul, I agree that Hulu probably needs to be a standalone entity. Unfortunately, I think IPO has been taken off the table. And given all that’s already been sunk in, it’s going to be difficult to spin it out from its existing stakeholders without someone making a big investment. Maybe private equity?

By: Paul Sweeting

Paul Sweeting — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:03:24 +0000

I still think Hulu could be better off as a standalone company. http://concurrentmedia.com/2011/07/06/what-if-no-one-buys-hulu/

By: majortom1981

majortom1981 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:06:03 +0000

Google is a better fit then verizon. Hulu would make a great addition to google tv.

By: mindctrl

mindctrl — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:46:14 +0000

Verizon could, and probably would, exclude bandwidth used viewing Hulu. Makes sense with their stance on net neutrality. Television 2.0 is on the march.

By: coolrepublica

coolrepublica — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:29:39 +0000

I guess the author is not fond of customers. Verizon the king of nickle and dimming customers should stay as far away from things I love. Hulu first on the list.

Amazon does show interest in advertising. Amazon is very interested in starting an adversting business. They are doing it with Kindle offers, display ad business. I am sure that’s their main reason for trying to get Hulu in the first place.

But whomever gets Hulu should not be named Verizon. I am not fond of getting bend over.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 01:51:29 +0000

Hulu subscriptions might be a bit of a hard sell to VZ Wireless customers since they have now capped their data plans!

–Ken

By: Ramin

Ramin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:43:08 +0000

Interesting. Makes a lot of sense.