Hulu.com takes on YouTube

Last October, NBC’s You Tube Channel suddenly disappeared.  There were no more (authorized) versions of NBC TV shows available at You Tube, no more promotional clips… not even video of the best SNL segment from the preceding Saturday night.  Soon, rumors began buzzing about a new video site still in beta, called Hulu.  The site could be accessed by invitation only, but it was eventually going to be the online face of NBC Universal and News Corp. programming.

If you’ve been begging since last year for an invitation to the private Hulu beta, today you can finally rest.  Hulu.com is live and open to the public, and reviews from beta testers and the first visitors from the general Internet public have been surprisingly good.  The site offers everything from complete episodes of television programs, to short clips, and TV addicts will be delighted to find that the library includes classic shows from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  You can start with “Dragnet” or “Kojak”, work your way through “Hill Street Blues”, and watch a bunch of Digital Shorts from “Saturday Night Live” before you realize you’re not getting any work done.  The site isn’t limited to just NBC, either… FOX is represented here, as are the SciFi and USA networks.  Here’s a full list of all the TV shows available on Hulu.com.  Not content to just represent television, Hulu is the online face of MGM, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros., meaning full-length, free, streaming movies.  I noticed “Ice Age” and “The Usual Suspects” during my brief stop at Hulu, and it looks like there are about 75 additional titles.  More will be added all the time, I’m sure. 

Surprisingly absent from Hulu is “American Idol”.  Putting AI clips on Hulu would be a great way to attract new visitors, but for now, you’ll have to get your AI fix on the regular Fox website.  If you’re into reality television, you can still use Hulu.com to catch up on “The Moment of Truth”.

Hulu isn’t going to replace watching HD television, and it won’t replace watching DVD movies.  The video quality is the same quality as you’d see on any network website, which means that it’s fine to watch as a passing amusement and to kill some time.  The quality is also a heck of a lot better than most amateur YouTube videos, so you’ll be doing your eyes a favor.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/12 at 07:52 AM

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