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Viacom cuts off Hulu

March 4, 2010

Viacom has decided to remove its shows from Hulu. The companies said that they were parting amicably, but Viacom's decision is a serious loss for Hulu, its “The Daily Show” is listed as the third-most-watched show on the site.

“We tried to reach a deal. We got close. We continued to talk even over the weekend. But we could not agree on a price,” said a negotiator.

The three-year-old Hulu dominates the market for online full-episode TV viewing, with more than 44 million monthly visitors, according to comScore, the online measurement firm. The site's monthly video view totals have surged in recent months, from 580 million last September to 1.01 billion last December. But Hulu is unprofitable. The site's advertising sales staff has struggled at times to keep pace with the torrid growth, and a partial pay model has been discussed by its owners, which include networks, ABC, NBC and Fox.

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