Apple’s a cash powerhouse. They’ve got swagger, fans, and contacts with major media companies. What good is all of that if there’s competition for your media services? No good, that’s what. Bloomberg reports that Apple is in considering a bid for Hulu, the free and subscription media streaming service.
\Since Hulu is currently owned by Disney, News Corp and NBC Universal, it has the power to grant exclusive streaming rights to content from these providers. Apple, who has been key in digitizing online media purchasing, would logically want to lock in these exclusivity rights.
iTunes, Apple’s media purchasing app and service, has long been established as a media distribution outlet and has offered video for some time. Yet, in an age when Netflix makes up a large part of household data consumption, getting a foot in the door of the digital media isn’t easy. Adding a subscription service on top of one-time rentals just means a more predictable income.
It’s estimated that the purchase price of Hulu could exceed $2Billion, which would far exceed Apple’s largest acquisition cost of $400 million for NeXT Software in 1996.
Source: Bloomberg
Streaming content with advertisements just isn’t Apple’s style. Apple would rather sell you content. I can’t see Apple getting into the advertising game, especially considering how poorly iAds is doing.