Comcast, NBC Universal Marriage Means Something for Hulu ... But What?

It could get very confusing in the world of Hulu soon, as NBC Universal and Comcast prepare to tie the knot; Comcast is expected to buy a 51 percent stake in NBC, one of Hulu’s three owners as soon as this week. There are two major reasons why this may be a crossroads for Hulu :

1. Comcast owns Fancast, a lesser-known Hulu rival, that, among other things, carries content from CBS, the only one of the four main broadcast networks that doesn’t have a stake in Hulu. (Yes, CBS is BNET Media’s corporate overlord.) Comcast’s backing of Fancast raises the possibility that it won’t want its inherited stake in Hulu, especially as it looks to gain market share for its own online video play. (Hulu and Fancast do have some of the same content.)

2. Comcast is the primary instigator of TV Everywhere, an initiative, currently in test, that plans to limit distribution of online cable content to cable subscribers only. Partners in the venture include Time Warner and CBS, and the main platforms the subscriber-only content is being streamed on are Fancast and Comcast.net. It’s the most ambitious scheme yet by major players in the TV industry to protect subscription revenue as more viewers watch TV online.

As it stands now, obviously, the Hulu model is the antithesis of that since a small dollop of commercials is the only price of entry for consumers to enjoy the high-end video on the site. Comcast becoming a part owner of Hulu, along with Disney ABC and News Corp., could tip the balance in favor of a paid model. News Corp. has been by far the most vociferous about this possibility, while NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has at least alluded to it. (Thanks to Mediaweek’s Mike Shields for the link. BTW, he wrote a story about Hulu’s growing pains in today’s issue that is worth a look.)

Of course, the counterargument regarding how Comcast might approach Hulu’s model is that consumers have never paid for broadcast programming and that’s much of what Hulu provides. Therefore, it’s possible Comcast could have two models for online video content at once — one for cable content and the other for broadcast content, but that doesn’t seem to play to the company’s world view.

While to say anything more about how the NBC Universal/Comcast deal will map out for Hulu gets even more speculative, those two reasons alone are enough to make it obvious that things will change at Hulu once this deal is approved.

Previous coverage of Hulu at BNET Media:

• Hulu: You Absolutely Need to Start Charging Users. Or, Why News Corp. Is Right
• Is There a Fight Brewing Over Hulu’s Business Model?
• Seven (Often Stupid) Reasons Hulu Doesn’t Have More Ads
• Hulu Is Starting to Show Itself the Money