Hello Hulu
By Christopher Nickson
August 31, 2007
The video service from Fox and NBC has a name and goes into beta in October.
Hulu. That’s the name. The joint video service launched by News Corp. and NBC Universal now has an official name, and will be going into ‘private beta’ in October.
First announced in March, the stand-alone site will have content from the two broadcasting giants. Additionally it will be part of a network including heavy hitters like Time Warner's AOL, News Corp.'s MySpace, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN. The site has also partnered with Comcast, Gemstar-TV Guide and CNET.
“Why Hulu?” wrote CEO Jason Kilar in a statement. “Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building.”
The site, which has been touted as a YouTube-killer, plans to “start small and grow iteratively” during its beta period. Those interested in signing up for the beta can do so at the Hula site.