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Hulu buyout heats up with four reported bidders

Companies looking to get a piece of the Hulu pie had until this week to put in their first round of bids for the video streaming service. And, it appears that four companies have gone in for a slice.

Former News Corp president Peter Chernin, private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media (which is headed the former interim Yahoo CEO by Ross Levinsohn), satellite operator DirecTV, and cable operator Time Warner Cable have all put in bids, according to Reuters.

Hulu has supposedly been looking for a buyer over the past couple of years, and recently several companies have allegedly expressed … Read more

Vevo expands its reach in Europe

Vevo has launched today in Spain, Italy and France, bringing the expansion of the online music service to 10 countries.

The free entertainment platform first appeared in the United States in 2009. Other markets where Vevo is available include the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

Today's launch means consumers in the new European markets will be able to access over 50,000 tracks and 4,500 music videos currently hosted on the platform.

Germany is still barred from the service, although Vevo is currently looking into ways to launch there. As The Next Web notes, the country … Read more

Netflix streaming: Mighty popular, but sadly lacking

Netflix has been no stranger of late to complaints about its services. And now Consumer Reports has released a study that might pile on.

In a recent survey of its subscribers, Consumer Reports found that 81 percent of over 15,000 respondents used Netflix's streaming service in the previous month, making it an exceedingly popular offering. However, in terms of overall satisfaction with the service, the respondents pushed Netflix down to sixth place behind Vudu, iTunes, and several others.

Out of a possible score of 100, Vudu took the top spot in subscriber satisfaction, earning a 76. Apple's … Read more

Roku lands $45M in funding, plans hardware, media expansion

Roku, the maker of a popular player for streaming Web content to TV sets, has closed a new round of funding.

The company has landed a $45 million investment from companies including News Corp. and British Sky Broadcasting, it announced today.

Also participating in the round were prior Roku venture investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners, as well as an unnamed strategic investor. In addition to the cash injection, News Corp's chief digital officer, Jon Miller, has joined the Roku board of directors, while Roku CEO Anthony Wood remains chairman.

"Our philosophy is to give consumers the … Read more

Rdio takes on Spotify with freer free option

Subscription music services aren't all the same, but they're similar enough that it's becoming increasingly important for companies to figure out a way to entice users into trying out a limited version of their service so they can hook them on it and convert them into paying customers. This freemium model has worked well for Spotify and now Rdio is upping the ante with a free streaming offer for PCs that's also ad-free.

We had to read the fine print to figure out just how free this offer is, but here's the basic deal: you … Read more

Will digital audio ultimately cause the music business' demise?

More people are listening to music than ever before, but the record companies are all in dire straits. Starting in the 1980s the CD brought booming sales and profits, and the record business fell head-over-heels in love with digital audio. CDs were selling for double the price of LPs at the time, so profits soared.

But what about the music? The 1980s wasn't such a great decade for music; it peaked early with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in early '83, and then rock music stagnated. Rap and hip-hop, born in the digital era, were the only new … Read more