Today I received a beta invite from Hulu.com, a site that streams a wide variety of television content with "limited commercial interruptions."



Hulu is rolling out betas on a limited basis, and my wait for an invite after requesting one was about two weeks. (You can sign up for an invite from Hulu using the link below.)



Content that is available for viewing on the site ranges from old stuff (like the pilot for Dogie Howser) and new stuff (like Family Guy, The Office and Roswell) conveniently identified by season and episode number.



There is a social media component included, as users create a profile and can make comments about the shows and clips.



Because the site collects demographic information like birthdate and zip code for its users, this type of delivery format should be attractive to advertisers who like to measure such things about viewers.



Ads are served at the beginning and the end of the shows and clips, and the run times reflect the limits of the interruptions (21:48 for a 30 minute TV show, for instance.) The ads are current, not those that would have appeared in the original airing.



The site touts its ability to allow users to embed the content as well as to view it anywhere, although on first look, I haven't made the embedding or the RSS subscription feed for my playlist work yet.



So far, Hulu is an interesting alternative for those (increasingly frequent) times when there is nothing good on regular or cable TV.



It also appears to prove what the writers have been pointing out since beginning their strike -- that there is value and profit in Online content delivery.



Look for more posts about Hulu as I test it further.



Links:



http://www.hulu.com/

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