![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2011\/04\/Hulu-Plus_iPad-1024x930.png\" "\\"Hulu")
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We reported earlier in the year<\/a> that leading US online catch-up TV service HULU<\/strong> had applied for registration of its trademark in Australia, fuelling speculation of an Australian launch of the service some time in the near future.<\/p>\n HULU<\/strong> is jointly owned by?US media companies NBC Universal<\/a>?<\/strong>(Comcast),?News Corporation<\/a><\/strong>?&?The Walt Disney Company<\/a><\/strong>?and has around 260 partners<\/strong> providing content. ?<\/em>The online catch-up service has been?a break out success in the US delivering leading US TV shows to online audiences shortly after network or cable broadcast. It also offers the best of Hollywood movies. The service is delivered via a subscription and\/or advertiser-based model (depending on which territory the user resides in) across a multitude of platforms, including PC<\/strong>, iOS devices<\/strong> and through Sony’s Playstation 3 <\/strong>or Microsoft’s XBOX 360<\/strong>.<\/p>\n FrostGlobal Editor-in-Chief Byron Frost<\/strong> was recently in Japan, where HULU<\/strong>?is available. HULU Japan?<\/strong>was?launched in September this year and Frost Global was able to test drive HULU<\/strong> across a number of platforms including PC<\/strong>, Apple’s iPhone 4<\/strong> and iPad<\/strong>. Whilst the service in Japan currently has limited fresh content and relies heavily on US back catalogue content such as Prison Break<\/strong> and 24<\/strong>, there are promises to bring fresher content both from Japanese and Korean content providers as well as US content where rights allow.<\/p>\n HULU<\/strong> is available to those living in Japan for around A$20<\/strong>?a month<\/strong>?which allows a user ad-free, unlimited streaming of content (of course one must keep in mind ISP download limits). The system also enables a user to pause a program on one device halfway-in and then resume watching the program from the paused location on another device.? The quality of the streaming is also very high?on all devices?(at least using a Japanese Internet connection), and from an iOS perspective the service runs extremely smoothly with minimum lag. Content is especially a joy to watch on an iPad<\/strong>. We?rate the service very highly save for the current lack of fresh content.<\/p>\n This brings us on to the question of whether HULU <\/strong>will ever launch in Australia? The difficulty is that Australia’s Free-To-Air networks have long term supply deals with US studios and are unlikely to relinquish their rights over this exclusive content to a competitor brand. Probably even more of a road block is that each network has there own catch-up tv service offering.<\/p>\n Mark Scott, Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation<\/strong>?recently noted the failure of the networks to work together on a catchup service. He said in an address to the 2011 Walkley Media Conference in Brisbane<\/strong> last month,<\/p>\n “…internet programming will increasingly be received and experienced as television – on a big home screen or a mobile one…I think it’s disappointing that to date, Australian free-to-air television networks have not been able to work together ?to create a local version of Hulu <\/em><\/strong>[emphasis added]?- a place were so much of what is on television is available for catch-up and personalised programming where it is available.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n FrostGlobal reported last year<\/a> on the UK’s Youview<\/strong> where all major UK television networks are participating in a the joint catch-up service despite the dominance of the BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong>, which ?recently launched in Australia on a subscription model. A summary video of the Youview <\/strong>service can be seen below.<\/p>\n\n