Hulu to abandon its UK expansion plans?

Hulu's impending launch in the UK has hit major problems, with advertising talks with ITV breaking down.

This is according to an unnamed TV executive who has been speaking to the Telegraph about the Hulu situation for some time.

"Hulu's talks with ITV have come to a halt because the broadcaster wants to focus on growing its own catch up service – ITV Player and not syndicate its content out to a third party at the moment," explained the TV exec.

They also noted that: "Hulu has told several people at the British broadcasters that it has been forced to abandon its UK expansion plans after failing to sign any content deals."

Forever delayed?

The main problem Hulu is facing is that it wants to take control of the advertising which will come with the content, but this is something that ITV, Channel 4 and Five aren't happy with doing. So it seems that the situation is at stalemate.

Hulu has seen massive success in the US, mainly due to the calibre of the content it shows on the site for free.

Shows like Desperate Housewives, Fringe and Glee can be found on the service, mainly due to the site being co-owned by News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney.

Back in July 2009, Hulu told press that launching in the UK was its "number one" priority. Since then, however, there has been no news about an official launch date.

The UK landscape of VoD is significantly changing. New figures show that there is a 143 per cent increase in people viewing video on the web in the UK.

BBC iPlayer is a phenomenal success, while the likes of SeeSaw and the upcoming Project Canvas proves that the main broadcasters in the UK are serious about video on demand.

So serious it seems that one of the US' biggest VoD sites can't get into the market. Tell you what America, we'll do a deal - you give us Hulu and we'll let you have the wunderkind that is Spotify.

Via the Telegraph