Hulu

Hulu’s owners hit another milestone on Friday in their long-running effort to sell the company — but don’t hold your breath that the TV service will change hands any time soon.

Hulu’s owners have extended the deadline for second-round bids until next week to allow DirecTV more time to line up financing. The satellite TV provider is expected to submit a bid of around $1 billion in the auction for the online video hub, sources say. DirecTV is competing with at least three other parties, according to sources.

Hulu’s sale could signal the end of one of the pioneers of online streaming, which has become an increasingly popular way to watch television.

Nearly six million more people are relying on over-the-air broadcast television than a year ago, according to a new survey from GfK Media & Entertainment.

Access to WatchESPN and HBO GO require a cable subscription and HBO subscription, respectively. Sky News gives cord cutters a 24/7 live news stream for free.

Several sources with knowledge of the ongoing Hulu acquisition talks say that a deal is imminent and that DirecTV is the likely victor. The acquisition price will be written with a “B,” according to these sources, but just barely.

The field of bidders for Hulu remains in flux, with AT&T now said to be in discussions with Chernin Group, led by former News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, to enter a joint proposal to acquire Internet TV site Hulu.

Myriad news reports are counting seven named suitors (and an 8th unidentified pay TV outlet) that want the six-year-old Web video service outright or at least an equity stake. Most of the bids came in time for a soft Wednesday deadline set by co-owners Walt Disney Co, News Corp, and Comcast Corp without a formal M&A process. Yahoo came in Friday morning. More may follow.

Yahoo has submitted a formal proposal to buy Hulu, joining a growing list of bidders for the video service owned by News Corp and Walt Disney, according to two sources with knowledge of the bid.

Former News Corp. President Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service. Satellite operator DirecTV and cable operator Time Warner Cable also put in bids, sources say.

Hulu’s three TV-focused owners — ABC, Fox and NBC — are taking more control of the streaming-video site’s ad sales, another sign of the tension that sometimes flashes between the popular video hub and the media conglomerates that control it.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has been talking with other cable providers about making a joint bid for the Web-TV hub. Hulu has hired Guggenheim Partners to explore a sale, among other options, as owners mull its future. Cable companies would make logical buyers. With consumption of Internet video on the rise, the cable industry is feeling the heat from Web streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon that offer a range of TV shows and movies.

Hulu showed off an ambitious schedule of original shows at its NewFront pitch on Tuesday, as well as metrics intended to demonstrate its competitiveness with other powerful platforms.

A new study finds that the number of people who watched network shows via on-demand TV skyrocketed more than 60% last year compared to 2011. It’s a stunning shift in viewer habits as more and more programming is now available through cable on-demand services and through Internet sites like Hulu and Netflix.

The future of TV is a patchwork of digital services rather than cable providers dominating markets around the country, panelist after panelist told the audience at Ad Age’s Digital Conference Wednesday. Of course, the speakers in question — CEOs of the growing disruptors Aereo, Redbox Instant By Verizon and Hulu — have big stakes in the outcome. But so do the big broadcasters trying to sue Aereo out of existence or the consumers clamoring for more choice and lower bills.

Former News Corp. President Peter Chernin has bid around $500 million for Hulu, the online video streaming service he helped create in 2007, according to two sources with knowledge of Hulu’s sale process.

Hulu’s board has approached potential buyers to gauge their interest in buying the online video service, three sources close to the company say, as owners News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. weigh what to do with their interests in the five-year-old company. The board sounded out several possible buyers as part of an internal strategic review begun recently, but it has not received a formal offer, one of the sources said on Monday. It was unclear how many parties Hulu had contacted.

News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have begun discussions about resolving uncertainty over their jointly controlled online video site Hulu, with one possible outcome being that one or the other company sells its stake. The two companies, each of which owns about a third of Hulu, have indicated at different times over the past few months their willingness to buy the other out, the people say. There is also the possibility both companies will decide to sell to an outsider, the people said.

The departure of the online video service’s CEO Jason Kilar and chief technology officer Richard Tom has some industry analysts wondering if this is the beginning of the end of Hulu. “Anytime you start to see key management personnel that have been involved in building a company leaving, then yeah, there’s concern about the future of that franchise,” says Channing Smith, managing director of equity strategies at Capital Advisors.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced in a blog post today that he will leave in the first quarter.

As Amazon and Netflix battle it out for dominance in online video, owners of the much smaller Hulu are under pressure to decide which direction to go. The CEO of Hulu is asking the venture’s corporate owners for additional funding.

The company’s revenue increased 65% from 2011, CEO Jason Kilar said in a blog post on the company’s website today. Subscribers to its paid service, Hulu Plus, doubled from a year ago to 3 million. Hulu Plus costs $7.99 a month, the same price as the Internet streaming service offered by its biggest rival, Netflix.

Hulu today launched a dedicated kids section on its website, as well as on the PS3, underscoring yet again how important kids content is to online video. The new section is advertising-free, but all of the videos are only available to Hulu Plus subscribers.

The deal falls short of what other broadcast networks provide. ABC, NBC and Fox, whose parent companies own Hulu, offer recently aired episodes, while the new CBS deal covers only shows that are no longer on the air.

Streaming video service Hulu has seen the number of hours spent viewing video on its site fall sharply in 2012, including a 58% drop to 65 million hours viewed in August from a peak of 156 hours in March, according to Wedbush Securities and comScore data.

Sure to change the shape of Hulu, Providence Equity Partners has finally sold its 10% stake in the joint video venture. Originally purchased in 2007 for $100 million, Providence Equity has reportedly sold its share back to co-owners News Corp., Comcast, and Disney for $200 million.

Her contract with Hallmark Channel expired, the domestic doyenne is staking her future on digital video, tablets and mobile as it’s becoming apparent that DIY content is better suited to an on-demand environment.

Big changes may be on the horizon for Hulu. According to an internal memo leaked to  Variety (subscribers can read that story here), CEO Jason Kilar’s time at the online video service may be up.

In a blow to Hulu, a federal judge has ruled that the federal Video Privacy Protection Act applies to companies that stream video on the Web.

Hulu presented its new originals and foreign acquisitions to TV critics Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif. The service is hoping one — or a few — of the shows it presented becomes the kind watercooler hit that drives subscription growth.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal says Justice officials have spoken to several online video providers, including Netflix and Hulu and have also questioned Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other cable companies about issues such as setting limits on the amount of data a subscriber can download each month. Journal subscribers can read the story here.

The online video site today unveiled a slate of 10 new shows — three original and seven exclusive to the site — that begin airing in June, hoping the new shows will give viewers extra reason to view online content through Hulu

At their first Digital Content NewFronts in New York, AOL, Hulu, Microsoft, Yahoo and YouTube tout their professional-grade content to advertisers the way major television networks do.