MOONVES HINTS RIVAL HULU MAY BE FAILING

CBS chief Les Moonves said Wednesday that “there has been some rumblings about some dissatisfaction” among the partners in Hulu, who include the Fox broadcast network, NBC, and ABC. During a conference call with investors, Moonves indicated that CBS has no intention of joining the online video property, second (behind YouTube) as the most popular video destination on the Internet, saying that “we like to control our own content.” And while CBS’s TV.com site draws far fewer users, it owns 100 percent of the website, he pointed out. Moonves further suggested that Hulu, despite its success in attracting Internet users, may not be generating significant profits — if any at all. “Frankly, I don’t know what the numbers are with Hulu,” he said, “but it is clear that they are going to be adding a subscription model. So one doesn’t know how effective Hulu for free has been.” Moonves’s comments came a day after News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch indicated that his company is developing a subscription plan that would include TV, film and newspapers in a single package.