The hottest rumor in both the entertainment and tech realms this morning is that Cupertino, California-based tech giant Apple is supposedly interested in purchasing streaming content service Hulu.
According to a report from Bloomberg, “Apple, the world’s second-most valuable company, is in early talks that may lead to an offer for Hulu, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.”
If such an acquisition or merger transpires, Hulu would give Apple a new subscription service and, as Bloomberg hinted in its business-savvy coverage, “a possible challenge to Netflix” could be created.
Hulu’s media- company owners, Walt Disney Co. (DIS), News Corp. (NWSA) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBC Universal, are offering suitors a five-year extension of program rights, including two years of exclusive access, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
Regarding whether or not Apple can afford Hulu, let’s put it this way. Apple just coughed up better than $2 billion for its share of the Nortel patents. Most industry analysts believe a Hulu purchase could be made for less than that amount.
And considering that Apple is sitting on more than $70 billion in cash, the purchase likely wouldn’t stretch Apple too thin by any stretch of the imagination.
