Apple Inc. is considering the acquisition of popular U.S. video portal Hulu, reports Bloomberg referring to anonymous sources.
Apple has held preliminary negotiations with the owners of Hulu to purchase the service. The amount the Steve Jobs company is ready to offer for Hulu, has not yet been disclosed. Analysts estimate the service costing more than two billion dollars.
Officials from Hulu and Apple have declined to comment on negotiations.
Hulu video service was launched in 2007. It is jointly owned by Walt Disney , News Corp. and NBC Universal fund and Providence Equity Partners. Hulu broadcasts TV serials, films and music videos. Some of them can viewed free of charge, and some are paid-services with a subscription price of 7.99 dollars per month.
Access to Hulu content is available on computer, mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as gaming consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Presently the video portal is available for U.S. users only.
News that the owners of the portal are going to put it for sale started circulating in late June 2011. Netflix and Microsoft were reported to be the parties interested in acquisition, but later they abandoned their plans.
Apple’s iTunes store also has movies, serials and music videos, but the model of content distribution from iTunes is not available via subscription. iTunes users can buy a video or take it on rent. So, through the acquisition of Hulu, Apple intends to diversify its multimedia content services.