Hulu Ado

The NBCU/Fox video Website Hulu launched in beta Mon with new content through licensing deals with MGM and Sony Pictures TV, including more than 40 Sony TV shows and both TV series and feature films from MGM. Also available for free download at Hulu.com is programming from Bravo, E!, FX Networks, Sundance Channel and USA. In all, approx 90 shows and 10 films will be available. As CableFAX awaits a password to peruse the site, myriad analysts, bloggers and media outlets already predicted its failure last week based on 3 key points: that the site is much too late to the digital party, that the content offerings will be unacceptably sparse vis a vis others in the space, and the unlikely partnership between 2 competing media giants. CNET’s Don Reisenger said "there is no chance Hulu will ever become a success" because neither jv player "knows what Web 2.0 is all about." Fool.com columnist Rick Aristotle Munarriz was particularly critical of NBCU’s severing of content ties with YouTube and iTunes prior to Hulu’s launch. "The quest for exclusivity has brought out some peculiar eccentricities in NBC’s DNA. It’s not very flattering," he said.