Well, today is judgment day -- final bids by suitors are apparently due today. Most believe that Amazon, Google, DirecTV and Yahoo! are likely to enter the fray.
But, all things being generally equal (especially price), my money is on Yahoo! Yahoo! is most in need of a big win -- and it likely sees Hulu as the most visible immediate "story" in that regard. After all, next to Netflix, Hulu is widely considered to be "the next best thing" (although, a distant cousin). And, importantly, Hulu's big media investors likely are less threatened with the notion of Yahoo! pulling the strings. Amazon and Google are scary powerful industry behemoths (in their eyes), and DirecTV is less familiar to them.
If Yahoo! is willing to pony up -- many believe the winning price tag may be a few billion dollars -- then it will be Hulu's proud owner. But, be careful what you wish for -- media companies already have significantly pulled back overall premium television offerings key to Hulu's future growth.
