Disney Ready to Play Nice with Hulu

It appears Disney and Hulu are inching ever closer to inking a deal that would allow a lot of Disney-affiliated content (my impression is that most of it would be ABC content) to make its debut on the on streaming network. This article gives not only a nice little break down of what the deal might look like, but also a little insight on how Hulu functions (for those of you that are still unfamiliar with it).

While it would certainly be cool to start watching complicated series shows (like "Lost") for free, it seems you may still have to be really diligent in order to catch the content. This makes free streaming a content a bit moot because, if I was diligent about catching shows, I would watch them on TV (or at least DVR them so I could fast forward through the commercials). However, this brooches a much larger debate about the benefits of Hulu v. cable. I have friends that swear by Hulu because it saves them $100 a month in cable expenses. However, I'm very attached to my DVR and I have advertising... so there you go.

Additionally, it doesn't sound like the Disney/Hulu deal would include "Disney" content; at least, not initially. It woul be nice to see Disney release some of the content that they really only show on the Disney channel, including some of the family-friendly series and their animated movies. However, as the article I referenced above makes note of, Disney has content on its own pages (www.disneychannel.com) that requires its own substantive traffic to stay afloat. Hulu does do some movies, but it's not really their bread and butter. Bringing some older Disney films in would certainly help drive traffic, but, given Disney's tight grip on its movies (The Disney Vault is the one of the most clever marketing tools I've ever seen, and, as a Disney fan myself, is the bane of my existence), the part of a deal seems unlikely.