Hulu Adds International Video

But the service remains restricted to U.S. viewers — for now.

Hulu, the Internet TV website supported by NBC Universal, News Corp and the Walt Disney Co., announced Thursday it planned to make international TV shows and movies from Britain, Japan and India available to its U.S. users.

 

The website is not disclosing a timeframe for when the content might be available to international viewers as well.

Bollywood distributor Saavn has partnered with Hulu to stream films online; for now, there are six subtitled films available on the site, including 2005’s "Sarkar," an Indian adaptation of "The Godfather" that stars Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan. More films will be available throughout the rest of the year.

Other content includes Japanese anime and hit U.K. television shows from Endemol like "Fear Factor UK" and "I Want to be a Hilton."

Despite the expansion, some from other cultures are arguing that Hulu should offer broader international content.

"It’s a missed opportunity. There was a report recently which said most pirated shows on YouTube came from Univision," said Leticia Juarez, Vice President of Media & Promotions at Hispanic ad firm Castells. "I think a lot of the industry still see Hispanics as a niche market, but internet access for Hispanics has outpaced any other consumer market and yet we still don’t have any premium content for them."

Juarez added that 69 percent of Hispanics are online and, on average, they spend over 13 hours surfing the web per week. 

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