US-based online streaming service Hulu announced in February that it had sold its Japanese service (which launched three years ago) to Nippon Television Network Corporation (Nippon TV). Under the terms of the deal, Nippon TV assumes control of the day-to-day operations of the business and its management (when the deal completes). Nippon TV is the leading […]

Frost Global has long highlighted the need for an Australian Hulu and Netflix, but to date there has been no firm commitment from either company about commencing Australian operations. This has left Australian consumers with silo catch-up services, that is catch-up content only accessible through each free-to-air network’s online catch-up services (save for services such […]

FrostGlobal reported earlier this month that Hulu’s shareholders 21st Century Fox, NBCU and the Walt Disney Company had decided to take Hulu off-the-market and inject US$750 million of new capital into the company.  At the time of the announcement, Disney’s Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger, said: “Hulu has emerged as one of the most consumer […]

US media giants 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company have announced that their online catch-up TV service Hulu is no longer for sale.  The announcement follows a sales process that was rumoured to have attracted bids from Yahoo, Direct TV and Time Warner Cable, amongst others. 21st Century Fox, NBCU and Disney have […]

Torrent Freak has reported that the season finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones set a new piracy record. This will not be good news to content owners as digital piracy continues to threaten their business models. The statistics are astounding.  Torrent Freak reported that 171,572 people were active on a single active torrent downloading the episode; […]

Foxtel’s proposed merger with Austar took another step in the right direction last week when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) commenced market consultations over Foxtel’s draft undertakings. Foxtel has provided the ACCC with undertakings in order to allay ACCC concerns that a merged company would hamper competition in the IPTV market. Foxtel and Austar, along […]

We reported earlier in the year that leading US online catch-up TV service HULU had applied for registration of its trademark in Australia, fuelling speculation of an Australian launch of the service some time in the near future. HULU is jointly owned by US media companies NBC Universal (Comcast), News Corporation & The Walt Disney Company and has around 260 partners […]

The digital content distribution market in Australia is hopefully about to become a lot more interesting. According to a report by Asher Moses in Fairfax Newspapers, the US online catch-up TV service Hulu is preparing to launch in Australia with or without the support of Seven, Nine and Ten. This is good news for content owners […]

News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch said earlier this year that “content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic. Clever technology is merely an empty vessel without any great content.”

UK communications regulator OFCOM has confirmed no investigation will be launched into YouView (formerly Project Canvas) the new IPTV on-demand service from the UK’s free-to-air networks. According to guardian.co.uk, YouView will launch in the first half of next year and target the 7 million Freeview households that have a broadband connection. YouView’s seven partners include British […]