Hulu Moving Onto Mobile?

Could online video site Hulu be appearing on mobile phones any time soon? B&C reports that Hulu CEO Jason Kilar delivering a National Association of Broadcasters keynote on Wedneday evening suggested that the NBCU and News Corp.-backed site could be developed for other platforms, including mobile phones. Kilar did not give any specific details, but said that Hulu needn't be identical on every platform and "?anything connected to the Internet would be a good fit for Hulu."

This isn't the first time Hulu's hinted about a possible mobile move. At CTIA, NBCU chief digital officer George Kliavkoff said in keynote he didn't "know why we couldn't do something similar [to Hulu] for mobile." When he was pressed further about a Hulu Mobile, he said, "The concept of putting multiple partners together to create a good destination on mobile devices is something we are interested in, but who knows if that would be under the Hulu brand or not ? that's total speculation." Plus, NBCU has spare spectrum--about 25-30 percent of it not being used, while with Telemundo, 65 percent is idle. Kliavkoff said the spectrum is "available to us to do whatever," including a wireless service.

Kilar also gave more detail behind the service's business model, saying the site gave providers another way to generate revenue on content that "would otherwise be lost." He noted, for example, that Arrested Development currently hovers between the top two spots on Hulu?much better than some of TV's current hits--though it hasn't been on TV in a few years. He also noted that with some TV shows on Hulu, such as "cult favorite" Felicity, there is no other way to access a legal source. Clips of Felicity may appear on YouTube, but as this was not "authorized" content owners clearly weren't seeing any revenue from it.

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@ CTIA: NBC Scores Multi-Carrier Deal; Says It Has Usable Spectrum For Wireless; Hulu Mobile?