Hulu

The video service Hulu, which offers television shows online, has secured a pair of British imports and a U.S. series to help propel it through the summer doldrums. Hulu has emerged as one of the Web's top destinations for watching prime-time television shows, which usually are available 24 hours after airing. But the site suffers from the same seasonality that afflicts the broadcast networks that provide Hulu with such top-rated programs as "Glee," "Modern Family" and "The Voice.

UNDERRATED Charles Dance on 'Game of Thrones' : While most everyone on this series rests somewhere between hero and villain (except that pinch-faced King Joffery), Dance's turn as Tywin Lannister carries a menacing gravitas like nobody else. No surprise to anyone who watched Dance chew scenery opposite Eddie Murphy on the otherwise lazy "The Golden Child" from 1986, but between Dance and Peter Dinklage, the Lannisters are winning the war on the acting front. 'Mamitas' (2011)

As speculation continues to swirl around Hulu, one of its corporate owners is forced to sit on the sidelines having no role in the fate of the popular online video site even though the outcome could greatly affect its own future. That's the position Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable and broadband operator, finds itself in with regard to Hulu, which has retained investment bankers to explore a possible sale of the company. Whereas Hulu's other majority owners — Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.

NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc.staged its glitzy presentation for advertisers in a theater near Central Park, with appearances by Katie Couric, "CSI" creator Anthony E. Zuiker and, via video, Tom Hanks. AOL Inc.rented out a three-story production studio in the gentrified Meatpacking District, which it filled with pounding dance tracks as gym-sculpted servers carried trays of beverages and snacks. A series of celebrity-studded presentations concluded with 1970s TV star Marlo Thomas taking the stage as AOL awarded prizes, including a new Ford Mustang convertible.

Fox is restricting free online access to "Glee," "The Simpsons" and other popular shows, becoming the first broadcast network to impose limits on watching new television episodes on websites such as Hulu. Beginning Aug. 15, viewers who don't subscribe to participating cable or satellite services will have to wait eight days from an episode's initial broadcast to watch a current Fox TV show online. Previously such popular prime-time shows from Fox and other networks have been available online the day after they aired for free, with commercials.

Relax, TV programmers. The teen viewer isn't going anywhere. The perception of today's teenagers is that of antsy kids bouncing back and forth between their computer screens and cellphones as they update their Facebook statuses and look at videos on Hulu and YouTube while texting their friends. The reality is that for all the time teens spend staring at small screens, it's still the television screen that gets most of their attention. "There is a popularized notion of the typical teenager constantly digitally connected....

Netflix has attracted more than 20 million subscribers, more than 20,000 movies and television shows for its online service, and more than its share of headaches in Hollywood. There's one thing it has yet to attract: competition. Netflix is the only company that streams a large selection of movies and TV shows online for a monthly fee. That will probably change. Retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Best Buy Co., Internet television provider Hulu, and satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp.

Here's your fight-the-power Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: --Christmas wasn't kind to the video game industry. U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 21% in December from a year ago, to $3.99 billion, as players bought fewer games for their aging consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group. The month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was the top-seller, and Just Dance 3, which placed second.

The CW television network wants to hang with a new crowd. The network reached a five-year deal Friday to offer new episodes of its dramas and reality shows on Hulu and the Hulu Plus subscription service. The arrangement is significant because it is expected to introduce CW's programming — including "Vampire Diaries," "Ringer" and "Hart of Dixie" — to a wider audience. It also mines a lucrative new stream of revenue that should help the small broadcast network find its financial footing and produce more original programming.

Since Hulu launched early last year, its popularity has quadrupled as millions of people turn to the free online video site to watch episodes of such television shows as "Family Guy," "The Office" and "Modern Family." Some wonder how long the free flow of online video would last if Comcast Corp. ends up a part owner of Hulu. The nation's leading cable company has made no secret of its disdain for Hulu's approach of giving away the shows that Comcast and other pay-TV distributors spend billions for -- and rely on to retain subscribers.

Providence Equity Partners is selling its stake in online video service Hulu for about $200 million, according to people familiar with the situation. The move is expected to give at least two of Hulu's media company owners — News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. — a greater ownership stake in the rapidly growing online service. It also would make it easier for the partners to achieve a common strategy for the asset without having a restive investor in the mix. The 5-year-old service has more than 2 million paid subscribers to its Hulu Plus offering and about 38 million visitors a month to its free site, which offers catch-up episodes of such popular shows as "Glee," "Revenge" and "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Mel Gibson's new movie, "Get the Gringo," rolled into a handful of theaters Wednesday night for what is certain to be the shortest theatrical run in the actor's history: one night. That's because Gibson's latest self-financed film, a $20-million, south-of-the-border crime drama set in a Mexican prison, won't appear in theaters beyond Wednesday's premiere in Austin, Texas, which was simulcast into a few auditoriums around the country. Instead, "Get the Gringo" will skip a theatrical run and become available on the satellite service DirecTV on May 1 in one of the boldest bets on video-on-demand programming.

Relax, TV programmers. The teen viewer isn't going anywhere. The perception of today's teenagers is that of antsy kids bouncing back and forth between their computer screens and cellphones as they update their Facebook statuses and look at videos on Hulu and YouTube while texting their friends. The reality is that for all the time teens spend staring at small screens, it's still the television screen that gets most of their attention. "There is a popularized notion of the typical teenager constantly digitally connected....

Here's your fight-the-power Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: --Christmas wasn't kind to the video game industry. U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 21% in December from a year ago, to $3.99 billion, as players bought fewer games for their aging consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group. The month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was the top-seller, and Just Dance 3, which placed second.

Migration has always been crucial to the success of the Phelps family of Venezuela. The study of bird migration led William Henry Phelps, a Harvard student, to South America in 1896. The ornithologist would go on to become one of Venezuela's most prominent businessmen, launching Radio Caracas, one of the country's first radio stations, in 1930 and Radio Caracas Television, its first privately owned television station, 23 years later. But four years ago, the Venezuelan government knocked the family-owned broadcast TV station off the air, accusing it of plotting against President Hugo Chavez and participating in a coup attempt.

"Community," NBC's quirky Thursday night comedy, has been a slacker in the ratings. The sitcom about misfit community college students, starring Joel McHale and Chevy Chase, has averaged about 4 million viewers an episode this season, not enough to guarantee survival in the dog-eat-dog world of network television. The tepid ratings prompted NBC to put the show on hiatus. Still, despite its struggles, the series is headed toward the promised land of syndication. Just a few years ago, a syndication sale for a modest performer like "Community" would have been unthinkable.

Pioneering Internet television service Hulu recently celebrated its third anniversary in a fitting locale: under the roller coaster at the Santa Monica Pier. Hulu has reached a dizzying level of popularity among users by offering easy and free online access to episodes of hit TV programs. But the site's soaring success has induced stomach-churning paroxysms for its owners, Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and NBCUniversal. Now the website faces changes that could curtail its trove of offerings or require users to pay for episodes they currently watch for free.

Loved and feared, Hulu — the online video service that offers free streams of episodes of such popular TV shows as "Glee" and "The Office" — commands more than 43 million users. Hulu's rapid rise since its launch in March 2008 has provoked shudders in Hollywood, where it's feared the website is teaching consumers, especially younger ones glued to laptops, to expect easy access to TV's best shows — all for free. And that, providers fret, will only encourage people to drop their pay TV subscriptions, which pays for the enormous cost of producing sitcoms and dramas.

Hoping to attract a rapidly growing U.S. Latino audience, online video site Hulu has launched a Spanish-language programming service with popular shows from networks Univision, Estrella TV and Azteca America. Spanish-language programming has been scattered across different Internet sites. And some of the most popular programs, including the spicy telenovelas produced by Grupo Televisa of Mexico, were not available online in the U.S. Hulu, which has ramped up its offerings this year, saw an opportunity.

Amazon.com Inc. will allow customers to use Hulu+ on its upcoming Kindle Fire device, adding a major source of TV and movie content to its tablet arsenal. The 7-inch tablet, which will begin shipping next week, costs $199 and will feature a special, limited version of Google's Android operating system that Amazon customized. That means Amazon will selectively choose which apps it will allow on the device — and which it will not. That gatekeeper approach is similar to the way Apple runs its App Store: approving only apps that follow its many guidelines, and taking a percentage of all Apps its sells on the iPad.