Hulu adds Sony, MGM, launches test

By Kenneth Li

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hulu, an online video service formed by two media conglomerates, will begin a private test on Monday with two new partners in one of big media's most ambitious attempts to court viewers wherever they spend time.

The joint venture of General Electric's NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which earlier had trouble persuading other big content producers such as Viacom Inc and Walt Disney Co to join, now adds shows from Sony Pictures Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Hulu executives said.

The long-awaited free, advertising-supported service makes its debut as consumer interest over watching video clips and television shows on the Internet.

Despite Hulu's high powered backers, the service has drawn skepticism among media and Internet executives, who have struck out on their own by offering shows on its own sites and are either selling shows on Apple's iTunes or offering it for free on other.

But these companies have yet to garner the hundreds of millions of viewers on such services as Google Inc's top online video sharing service YouTube.

"We are still in inning No. 2 in the whole game of online video," Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said, employing a baseball metaphor.

Ahead of Hulu's anticipated public launch early next year, NBC Universal has stopped offering its shows for sales on iTunes and pulled its channel off of YouTube.

On Monday, Hulu will offer about 90 TV shows from the four companies and smaller partners ranging from current prime-time hits such as "Heroes" and "The Simpsons" to vintage shows "Miami Vice" and "The A-Team."

It will also make about 10 feature films available including "The Breakfast Club" and "The Blues Brothers."

Shortly after the test begins, these shows will also be made available on a handful of the biggest online distributors Time Warner Inc's AOL, Comcast Corp, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo.

"Given that they're late, I have to admit that they've actually delivered more than I expected," said McQuivey.

McQuivey pointed to the site's ability to let users share and embed entire shows or movies everywhere on the Web as surprising features to be offered by a service controlled by media companies who have spent its entire history directing where and when its shows can be accessed.

NOT YOUTUBE KILLER

Although framed in the press as big media's "YouTube-killer," Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar, a former Amazon.com executive, said the site aims to make it the premier destination for full length shows and movies.

"We want to stand for a high quality approach to the content," Kilar said in a phone interview on Friday, who drew a distinction from YouTube's offering of video clips.