Hulu Lu Ya: NBC & Newscorp set Halloween eve, eve date for launch of new web video venture

NBC and News Corp will greet Halloween this year with the launch of their surprisingly under hyped online video venture Hulu.com two days before. Both companies are hoping to squeeze online video giant Youtube by attracting users to Hulu.com for all News Corp and NBC programming. Was this venture under hyped due to lingering doubts among NBC and News Corp brass? Or are they playing the under promise and over deliver card? Techcrunch.com got the scoop: Launching a video Website can be hard—even if it is just a private beta. Now, says our source, Hulu is gunning for a private beta launch next Monday, so that it can still meet CEO Jason Kilar’s self-imposed October deadline. That date could slip until the following Wednesday and technically be considered on-time, of course, but Kilar probably wants to avoid the trick-or-treat jokes. We’re still waiting for our invites. Hulu Set to Launch on Monday [Techcrunch]

Will NBC Universal and News Corp's HULU.com be another flash in the pan like NBC's NBBC.com?

NBC Universal and News Corp are probably putting the final touches on their soon to be launched online video joint venture, Hulu.com. Both companies are the latest big media players attempting to keep audiences from running to Youtube to see their programming by creating a video destination of their own. Viacom made every single episode of "The Daily Show" available online at the newly launched Thedailyshow.com. But back to Hulu. This won't be NBC's first run at an online video venture. A year ago with much fanfare NBC launched a mediocre site called NBBC.com. The site has since vanished into thin air. The venture was a flop right out of the gate due to it overly corporate look and discription (see image below). Online video ventures need to have a welcoming image sans the corporate lingo. Audiences and most advertisers could care less about that. It was an attempt to interact with NBC's audience but it turned out that NBC's audience didn't want to interact with them, and around that time there was a little site called Youtube smoking up the place. So will News Corp's involvement make a difference this time around? We think so. With News Corp's Myspace, if the right people are in charge of this new venture, it can make some noise. But it won't be an issue for the folks at Youtube, because at Youtube, the audience runs the show. EARLIER: Fresh Off The Wires: NBC Launches "NBBC"