Hulu a Wild Card for Apple in the Gadget Market?
Apple is planning to acquire the video streaming website Hulu according to two people familiar with the auction, Bloomberg reported Friday.
The on-demand streaming video service featuring popular TV shows, movies, trailers, etc., is up for sale and other tech companies like Yahoo and Google are up for the bidding process as well.
According to the media outlet, the cost of acquiring Hulu could well exceed $2 billion, something that certainly doesn't poses a hurdle for Apple, which pockets $76.2 billion in cash and securities.
With such money to spare, buying Hulu wouldn't affect much of Apple's bottom line. Anyone could argue that Apple's venturing spirit to buy Hulu would bring positive rather than negative results.
But what exactly does Apple have in mind for Hulu?
According to PC World's Ed Oswald, it would make sense for Apple to buy the rights to Hulu in order to "turn Apple TV from a 'hobby' into a serious part of its business overnight."
Erica Ogg at GigaOm believes that this deal would give Apple more video content than it already has in iTunes. Hulu content is already appreciated by the U.S. audience and having it on iTunes would certainly bring Apple's content value to new heights.
According to Bloomberg who quoted Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co. in San Francisco, “Hulu would add a new element to their arsenal from a streaming and subscription standpoint,” which definitely seems to mean more audience thus more cash.
Another interesting viewpoint for such purchase may lie in the grounds of enhancing the value of the iPad and iPhone, products that would certainly benefit from the deal.
With the intense smartphone and tablet battle raging, all contenders like Samsung, Motorola, HP, etc., are expected to remain relentless and provide the best and most up-to-date hardware consumers can afford.
With all companies offering the best hardware performance in a tight competition, the fight in the future would shift to the grounds of providing the best content, an analyst from a South Korean tech giant commented to CP. Apple could certainly differentiate itself from the others and take the lead in sales by providing valued and high-in-demand content just like the one found in Hulu.
The Hulu deal would allow a five-year extension of programming rights with two exclusive years, reported Bloomberg.
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