14 DAY TRIAL // Hulu, the online video sharing service that is supposed to represent the most powerful rival for YouTube, is now available as a private beta. Last week, it was rumored that Hulu's developers plan to launch the private testing stage of the service this week in order to meet the October deadline first announced a few months ago.
The bad thing is that you must sign up for the Hulu private beta in order to get access inside the service and watch TV shows such as The Office, Prison Break, The Simpsons, Heroes and many others. In fact, there is an impressive collection of TV content to be made available on Hulu, starting with Prison Break, Family Guy, or Friday Night Lights and ending with The Tonight Show, Lost in Space or The Office.
"We're excited to bring a wide selection of popular content to fans, on-demand and free - from full episodes and clips of hit shows like Heroes, House, The Office, and The Simpsons, to feature films like The Blues Brothers and Sideways," said Jason Kilar, chief executive officer of Hulu. "The launch with our distribution partners as well as our beta is an important first step in delivering a service that lets people enjoy their favorites, anytime, anywhere."
In addition to the private beta release, Hulu also received a $100 million investment from Providence Equity Partners which is supposed to help the new online video sharing technology become more powerful in a market led by Google's YouTube.
"NBC Universal is excited to give consumers the flexibility to enjoy our most popular shows online when, where and how they want", said Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive officer, NBC Universal. "Hulu's clean and crisp destination site, broad distribution network, and embeddable video player make for a powerful combination and will provide substantial reach to consumers online."