A Hulu sale is imminent and DirecTV is the likely victor, according to multiple unnamed sources speaking to Pando Daily. This would be possibly the best case scenario for a strong Hulu move towards original content creation. DirecTV is a behemoth with 20 million subscribers and annual revenue of roughly $20 billion. It could easily afford to launch an aggressive slate of Netflix-type original programming, even if hiring marquee names would push the cost of a limited series to $100 million a pop.
The premium streaming service Hulu Plu has just 4 million subscribers, so if DirecTV wants to use it as a weapon to challenge Netflix, it needs to make bold moves and execute rapidly. Netflix has racked up 29 million streaming video customers and it is now swelling by 2 million new subscribers per quarter.
At the current rate, Netflix is effectively adding the entire Hulu subscriber base every six months. Whoever buys Hulu must be prepared to invest heavily to revamp the service into something that can begin to close the customer base advantage Netflix has built up over the recent years.
