There is no shortage of places to watch TV shows free on the Web. There’s a glut of them, really. But here comes another: AT&T Entertainment. How is it different than Hulu, TV.com, Sling.com, Fancast, etc.? It’s not.
Lots of news emanating from Hulu today–but nothing ground-moving. That could still come in the near future: I keep hearing that the joint venture between NBC and Fox is getting close to a deal to bring ABC into the fold. But no confirmation yet. In the meantime, Hulu wants you to know that it’s the biggest video site that isn’t YouTube, and that it now boasts some social-network-like features.
Why have Hulu’s videos disappeared from TV.com, the Hulu-like video site CBS recently relaunched? Perhaps because Hulu isn’t pumped up about supplying its content to a competitor–especially one that won’t supply its content to Hulu.
Sling.com will soon get Viacom shows like “SpongeBob Squarepants,” which you can see on Joost but not on Hulu or YouTube. Confused? Of course you are. And Hollywood wonders why pirate sites are popular.
The top executives at Sling Media, the people who brought you the Slingbox “place-shifting” TV gadget and Hulu competitor Sling.com, are leaving Echostar, more than a year after they sold their start-up to the satellite TV company for $380 million cash. Brothers Blake and Jason Krikorian, CEO and SVP-business development, are out, effective immediately. Jason Hirschhorn, who runs the company’s Sling Media Entertainment unit, plans on staying through the end of February; Ben White, chief creative officer at the entertainment group, will stay on through Feb. 1.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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