Hulu, you're such a tease.
Once again, a bidding war for the streaming video service gets called off by the owner. Hulu's bigwig studio partners announced on Friday that they'll be keeping Hulu, putting an end to yet another lame auction process.
DIRECTV (DTV.DL) seemed like a shoo-in to win the Hulu sweepstakes. The country's largest satellite television provider doesn't have much of an online presence, and snapping up Hulu and potentially making it exclusive to DIRECTV subscribers could've really helped justify the pay-TV provider's hefty monthly rates.
Hulu's consortium of present owners are committing to invest $750 million to take the site to the next level. Hulu is popular for its ability to stream television shows between a day to a week after they initially air, but Hulu could use a page out of the faster-growing digital smorgasbords and beef up its catalog.
We'll see how far $750 million goes, and then we'll see who falls for the inevitable auction process for Hulu.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- The future of smartphones may be a battle of megapixels. Nokia (NOK 2.03%) formally unveiled the Lumia 1020, a Windows Phone making waves for its 41-megapixel lens.
- The sky's the limit for priceline.com (BKNG -0.45%). Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt upgraded the fast-growing travel website operator, boosting his price target to $1,010. It's the first analyst to cross the four figures in setting a goal for Priceline.
- Tesla Motors (TSLA -1.92%) was tapped to fill next week's vacancy in the Nasdaq 100. The electric-car maker has tripled in recent months, making it one of the 100 largest non-financial stocks in the exchange.
