Hulu, the joint venture between FOX and NBC has finally opened its closed doors and became public.
Within seconds a video I cued up starting playing, with limited commercials, presenting a new way to watch content online. So, what does this mean to news? Other than the fact that Hulu features news content, this means a whole new method of new media distribution, and it will be interesting to see over the next months how NBC and FOX integrate Hulu with their other services.
On the local news front, this could be just a glimpse of what NBC and other networks have on the way to affiliates. Imagine being able to watch a newscast online, with quick buffer times, and minimal ads. Innovations such as these are passed on to affiliates.. Hopefully Hulu’s advancement in flash video will come to many local stations, instead of WMV’s or Real Media.
One neat feature of Hulu is old NBC News footage and some FOX News specials are available, much like on iTunes previously, and can be found here:
http://www.hulu.com/show/213/nbc-news-specials
http://www.hulu.com/show/214/nbc-news-time-capsule
Keep and eye out for good things to come from Hulu, and get caught up on your favorite episodes of St. Elsewhere, WKRP in Cinncinati, and of course all the new favorites.
