Reading that NBC will restrict coverage of the Olympics to NBC properties, I wonder if this will cause a rift between News Corp. and NBC.
The two companies are 50-50 joint venture partners in Hulu. In all likelihood: Hulu will want access to the coverage (which NBC is only making available after it has been aired on TV, and only making it accessible on NBCOlympics.com), but while NBC and News Corp. became bosom buddies to confront and answer the YouTube threat… over time, let’s face it, media companies have a tendency to stab one another in the back. I’ve always said that YouTube and Hulu are not really competitors and Hulu’s main obstacle from success will be NBC and News Corp.
If you think about it, the News Corp. side of Hulu’s lineage will be pushing NBC to make the Olympic Games available on Hulu asap whereas the brass at NBC will say “not so fast”.
What will happen? I don’t know… but something tells me that Hulu’s head honcho Jason Kilar will be fielding calls from both Jeff Zucker and Peter Chernin all night long as we head into the Summer Games in Beijing.
And sure, I might be getting calls asking me to stop stirring shit up… but until then, it’s worth speculating.
Of course, the most likely outcome is for NBC to simply grant Hulu the content a few days after the coverage has aired on TV and on NBCOlympics.com, but until we get that confirmation… it’s pretty interesting to consider the likely outcome.
Disclaimer: WatchMojo.com provides content to Hulu. Here’s our page. See our previous post tonight: It’s NBC’s Content, No?
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July 16th, 2008 at 6:49 am
[…] Summer Olympics creating some kind of issue between News Corp. and NBC. A couple of weeks ago I said that Hulu would want to carry the Olympics but NBC would balk, and it would cause some kind of […]