A Cuckoo Time to Release Hulu

The News Corp. - NBC site Hulu.com has launched in public beta, reports Variety. It's an ad-supported web site for viewing TV shows and movies, with non-skipable commercials included in the video stream.

The timing's not great though: the studios and networks are busy trying to persuade the Writers Guild that new media is irrelevant as source of income. A new and exciting Internet platform is scarcely persuasive.

Nokia Unstacks the Deck in Mobile Video

Nokia has been embedding video links in its new-ish N95 handset pursuant to a deal with News Corp., Sony Pictures, and CNN, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

This allows video to be streamed from those companies' sites without being included on the carriers' decks, or menus. Content companies find those decks to be expensive, and crowded, pieces of real estate.

In separate news, Nokia is buying mapping data company Nav-teq, a major player in that field.

Lulu Ululates Over Hulu

Lulu.com is suing Hulu.com for trademark infringement, reports CNET. (To "ululate" means to howl or wail, and when else am I ever going to get to use that word?)

Crux of the complaint is that the names and business models are too similar and will cause consumer confusion. The names certainly are similar, but the business models seem different: Lulu.com is a self-publishing service (print, publish and sell your own books), whereas Hulu.com is a recently-announced digital video company jointly owned by NBC Universal and News Corp. I'm not sure where the confusion lies, but I guess we'll see.