Hulu Adds ABC Content

Hulu is taking another step in becoming the online hub for TV content with the announced availability of content from Disney's ABC on the online video site. Initially announced a few months ago, the first episodes from one of ABC's shows are now live on the site. The first snippet is made up of several episodes of the network’s popular primetime drama Grey's Anatomy with other shows coming soon.

“Today marks the official start of a new relationship: the launch of ABC content on Hulu. Things kick off with five episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, the primetime drama set at Seattle Grace Hospital, where surgical interns try to navigate the challenges of romance and friendship as they scrub in for complicated medical cases,” Rebecca Harper wrote on the Hulu blog. “We have more ABC titles on the way, too,” she added.

The growing popularity of Hulu prompted Disney, which owns ABC, to join the site in April this year with each of the three big networks now owning a reported 27 percent of it. Since the announcement though things remained quiet and only today has ABC content become available. The network plans to add even more content in the coming two weeks, following the Grey's Anatomy episodes with shows like Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Scrubs, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

Up to this point the only major networks with content on the site were Fox, owned by News Corp, and NBC, NBC Universal, along with many smaller cable networks and other sources. Hulu was initially a joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal along with equity investor Providence Equity Partners and has proved a remarkable success. Since it was launched, more than a year ago, traffic has seen big growth, making it one of the largest online video sites in the US. Growth has started to level off in the recent months but analysts are unsure if this is a worrying sign or a seasonal event following TV audience trends.