DirecTV bails out of Hulu auction

DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) has dropped out of the bidding war for Hulu, leaving Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) competing for the popular online video site.

Hulu owners Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), New Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), NBCUniversal and Providence Equity Partners have received bids in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times.

While acquiring Hulu could have helped DirecTV compete with Comcast's Fancast Xfinity TV and other online video sites, the strength of its core pay TV offering won't be diminished by not having Hulu.

With DirecTV out of the running, Amazon appears to be a frontrunner for Hulu. "Buying Hulu would propel Amazon's video strategy forward with exclusive content versus Netflix and others," BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield said in a research note.

For more:
- the Financial Times has this article (sub. req.)

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