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Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

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Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#2
Out of all the names on that list William Morris Endeavor is the most surprising.

The agency model in Hollywood will eventually fade away because middle men don't offer as much utility as they once did when information wasn't so readily available.

It's surprising to see any of the major agencies waking up to this idea and acting on it.

If WME wins the bid we could see some interesting changes in the entertainment industry.

If actors, writers and directors (talent) are only a single step away from creating content in an environment where distribution has very low variable cost then we could see a boom of high quality independent films and shows. Think House of Cards (Netflix US) on a more frequent basis.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#3
post #2

Out of all the names on that list William Morris Endeavor is the most surprising. The agency model in Hollywood will eventually fade away because middle men don't offer as much utility as they once did when information wasn't so readily available. It's surprising to see any of the major agencies waking up to this idea and acting on it. If WME wins the bid we could see some interesting changes in the entertainment ind…

The agencies have been awake to this idea for quite a while now. WME and CAA have tentacles everywhere these days.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#4
post #2

Out of all the names on that list William Morris Endeavor is the most surprising. The agency model in Hollywood will eventually fade away because middle men don't offer as much utility as they once did when information wasn't so readily available. It's surprising to see any of the major agencies waking up to this idea and acting on it. If WME wins the bid we could see some interesting changes in the entertainment ind…

In the case of WME, they are 1/3rd owned by Silver Lake, so some sophistication in this area isn't surprising:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/silver-lake-takes-sta...

I don't know about WME, but CAA also has a small venture arm.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#6
Holy cow. This is a big deal.

There is no reason why TV networks need to exist the way they do. Hulu, Netflix and Amazon all produce original content and are perfectly positioned to disrupt them as their distribution volume increases. Even the current distribution channel is being disrupted by Aereo. Hulu is a a huge asset.

If Yahoo gets in this game, they have a massive number of users, photos (flickr), blogposts (tumblr), mail, content... they're rivaling the reach and diversity of Amazon and Google as content owners (though without their respective cash cows of b2c sales and ads).

What's next? Is there some sort of connection that I'm missing between flickr, tumblr, the existing yahoo platform and hulu? Do they buy vimeo from IAC, or buy/merge with IAC? What's the strategy behind all the acquisitions?

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#7

Holy cow. This is a big deal . There is no reason why TV networks need to exist the way they do. Hulu, Netflix and Amazon all produce original content and are perfectly positioned to disrupt them as their distribution volume increases. Even the current distribution channel is being disrupted by Aereo. Hulu is a a huge asset. If Yahoo gets in this game, they have a massive number of users, photos (flickr), blogposts (…

Yahoo has always been a content portal. The strategy? To have a diverse range of offerings in the hopes that everything you use will be be on the Yahoo network. That's been the winning strategy since AOL, but success in the area has proven fleeting.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#8

Holy cow. This is a big deal . There is no reason why TV networks need to exist the way they do. Hulu, Netflix and Amazon all produce original content and are perfectly positioned to disrupt them as their distribution volume increases. Even the current distribution channel is being disrupted by Aereo. Hulu is a a huge asset. If Yahoo gets in this game, they have a massive number of users, photos (flickr), blogposts (…

They tried to buy a majority share from dailymotion from Orange a couple of weeks ago, but it was blocked by the french governement (a big shareholder in Orange).

Yahoo really wants a video service. I guess they want to come back to having a modern set of active services.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#9
post #5

whoever buys Hulu is going to regret when they find out all the content deals goes up in smoke when the company change hands.

An agreement to maintain licenses for a few years will be part of the sale, but it does mean that the buyer will have a limited amount of time to make Hulu licenses indispensable to the former owners.

Re: Yahoo submits bid for Hulu

#10
post #5

whoever buys Hulu is going to regret when they find out all the content deals goes up in smoke when the company change hands.

Since some might not be aware and since you didn't explicitly state it, Hulu right now is owned by Disney (which owns ABC), Fox, and NBC Universal, which produce a majority of the content on the service.

So while what you said may be true in general, it seems especially likely in this case.

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