As TV.com Numbers Spike, Hulu Pulls the Plug

Written by Sam Baltrusis

Wednesday, February 18. 2009 at 02:40 PM EST 4 comments

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CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS)-owned TV.com is emerging as a major player in the race among Internet TV portals, posting a 263 percent increase in unique viewers in January. But rival Hulu LLC isn't taking the news lying down.

According to new data released from Nielsen VideoCensus, the recently revamped TV.com site, which was attained by CBS through its acquisition of CNET, recorded a 1,261 percent increase in full-length video streams and a 4,435 percent increase in minutes viewed last month.

Prior to the TV.com relaunch in January, the site was a community and information site for TV lovers. CBS was able to strike content deals with PBS, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. , Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), Endemol , and Showtime Networks Inc. , as well as a much-hyped collaboration with Hulu.

However, TV.com's growth spurt may have rocked the boat. Hulu has reportedly pulled its content off TV.com, displaying a "video unavailable" message when users try to access exclusive full-length video from NBC Universal and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS).

Hulu has one year left of its two-year deal as the exclusive outside distributor of NBC and News Corp. online content. The news that Hulu has pulled its content from TV.com suggests an underlying power struggle among the two online video destinations.

TV.com's 5.9 million unique visitors in January is actually greater than the 4.5 million unique visitors Hulu received during that same month. In the past, CBS claimed TV.com's major advantage is that it already has a social community in place, unlike Hulu, which has attempted to cultivate communities with little success.

When Hulu's contract is up with NBC and News Corp. early next year, TV.com could go after NBC and Fox Broadcasting Co. content directly.