Hulu to Be Delayed Until 2010 in the UK

Hulu can be considered a success in the US, rising to be one of the most visited video sites in the country. But its content is restricted to the North American region, which makes it largely irrelevant to the rest of the world. The site's backers though, three of the four major TV networks in the US, are pushing for the first international venture in the UK. The UK Hulu was supposed to be launched next month with content from the three main networks in the country but the Daily Telegraph now reports that the launch may be delayed to early 2010.

Hulu has been in talks with three UK TV networks, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, for about six months now but it hasn't finalized any of them despite the site being initially meant to be launched in September 2009. The biggest advances have apparently been made with ITV, which is now very close to a final deal.

The deal would be semi-exclusive as ITV would still be allowed to sell its content to other video sites; however, the content that would be licensed by Hulu would only be exclusive on the site. ITV will still be able to distribute all of its content through its ITV Player, which allows viewers to see any show from the last 30 days, similar to BBC's iPlayer.

Negotiations with the other companies aren't so far advanced despite Hulu offering a stake in the newly formed enterprise if they participate. Once the deal with ITV is signed though, Hulu needs just one more partner to launch and will most likely go after BBC Worldwide content, even though the network doesn't sign exclusive contracts, hoping to secure some content from the regular BBC networks in the process.

A project similar to Hulu was planned in the UK, with BBC, ITV and Channel 4 coming together to launch a site codenamed Kangaroo. The idea was blocked by the Competition Commission with anti-trust concerns and Hulu saw an opportunity to take a shot at it with its own offering.