NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have confirmed the name of their new Web-based network of films and television shows as 'Hulu'.The name was chosen because it is short, easy to spell and rhymes with itself, project chief Jason Kilar said.

Hulu will begin testing a private version in October, according to Kilar, a former Amazon.com executive, although the site's formal launch remains unclear. News Corp and NBC announced the joint venture in March, referring to it at the time as “Newsite”. The project is intended to spearhead the established media companies' efforts in the burgeoning market for online video, which has so far been dominated by Google's YouTube.

Hulu.com will feature professionally made television films and music videos from NBC, News Corp and other partners. They are hoping to create a copyright-friendly, online destination for their content that will be appealing to viewers and advertisers.

They have also signed up dis-tribution partners, including AOL, MySpace, MSN and Yahoo, to expand their reach. NBC and News Corp have also recruited private equity group, Provide Equity Partners, to invest $100m in ex-change for a 10 per cent stake.

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