The Hulu Scoop: NBCU/News Corp. Brand Video Site, Open Private Beta

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED JOINT VENTURE between News Corp. and NBC
Universal that will stream full episodes of hit series such as "The
Simpsons" and "My Name is Earl" finally has a name: Hulu.com. A beta
version of the site went live this morning, inviting people to sign up
to a private beta test of the new service. "Why Hulu?" writes the
venture's CEO Jason Kilar on the site. "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."

Kilar -- named CEO of the stand-alone company NewSite that runs Hulu
-- went on to write that the site's "never-ending mission ... is to
help you find and enjoy the world's premier content when, where and
how you want it."

News Corp. and NBCU have been coy about the video destination's
moniker since the announcement of the venture came in March. Hulu -
which some have said looks to be a "YouTube killer" since it will
offer full episodes of network and cable hits, plus movies, as opposed
to a heavy emphasis on user-generated low-quality videos - recently
received a financial infusion via a reported $100 million investment
by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners which gave that
group a 10% stake.

Visitors to Hulu.com can now sign up to receive an invitation to use
the site once the content actually is available for viewing (only the
names of shows that will be available sits on the home page so far.)
Kilar indicated the site - which will be free and ad-supported -- will
go live in October, a month after executives at the partner media
companies had indicated it would.

NBC shows that will be available besides "My Name is Earl" include
"Las Vegas" and the coming "Bionic Woman. From News Corp., coming
series besides "The Simpsons" include Fox's "American Dad" and
"Bones," as well as the freshman series "K-Ville," -plus two series
from its FX cable channel, "Dirt" and "The Riches." There is no
indication of which films might be available from either Universal
Pictures or Twentieth Century Fox.

NBC Universal executive Kevin McGurn is heading up sales efforts for
the ad-supported site, MediaPost has learned. That was confirmed by a
July post by blogger Donna Bogatin, who conducted an interview with
him. McGurn has headed sales for a previous NBCU broadband venture,
NBBC. When the site was announced News Corp. and NBCU said a run of
advertisers had already signed up, including General Motors and Cisco.

The site's content - thousands of hours of full-length programming are
promised -- will be distributed via sites AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo,
CNET and Comcast. Site operators say it will reach 98% of the U.S.
Internet audience.

"This is a game changer for Internet video," Peter Chernin, News Corp.
president-COO, said in March when the site was announced. "We'll have
access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch. And
for the first time, consumers will get what they want --
professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live.
We're excited about the potential for this alliance and we're looking
forward to working with any content provider or distributor who wants
to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity."

Among the films News Corp. and NBCU said would be available include
"Borat," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Devil Wears Prada" and "Bourne
Supremacy," as well as various movie trailers.

Its launch distribution partners will provide the biggest potential
reach of any player on the Internet. Moreover, the new site will
actively seek agreements with a variety of additional distribution
partners.

"This new venture is further proof that the Internet is now a
full-fledged entertainment medium, and we are delighted to serve as a
major online distribution partner for the quality content produced by
these media powerhouses, as well as a provider of strategic services
to the new venture," Randy Falco, AOL Chairman-CEO, said in March.

Kilar, Hulu's CEO, previously worked at Amazon.com before joining to
launch the venture in July.