Report: Hulu offers potential buyers guaranteed access to programming for 5 years

Online video service Hulu, which is seeking an additional owner, will offer suitors five years of access to shows from its current media-company owners, according to a report in Bloomberg, which cited two people familiar with the situation.

In addition, Hulu plans to include two years of exclusivity. That means the new owners would have continued access to programs from Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA) and Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA) NBCUniversal. The move is important as companies like Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) aren't like to bid without guaranteed access to this programming.

Hulu plans to offer suitors five years of access to shows from its media-company owners, including two years of exclusivity, two people with knowledge of the situation said. According to Bloomberg's sources, TV networks would still be allowed to post shows on their own sites during the exclusivity period, and there would be exceptions for on-demand services.

Hulu's bankers, Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners have reportedly met with 10 to 12 potential bidders, including Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft, Bloomberg's sources said.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article

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