MICROSOFT DROPS OUT OF BIDDING FOR HULU

Microsoft Corp. is dropping out of the bidding for Hulu LLC, the online video service put up for sale by its media-company owners, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, told Hulu executives last week it wouldn’t continue into a second round, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to talk publicly. The person didn’t rule out Microsoft re-entering later.

Hulu bankers at Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners met in the past four weeks with Microsoft, which already rents and sells films and TV shows through its Xbox video-game console, to solicit an offer, people with knowledge of the situation said on July 1. The bankers also met with Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., AT&T Inc. and as many as eight other companies, they said.

Elisa Schreiber, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based Hulu, declined to comment, as did Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft.

HULU CONFIRMS IT IS FOR SALE

Hulu has hired bankers Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners to sell the online video site. Hulu is jointly owned by News Corp's Fox, Disney's ABC and Comcast's NBC (although NBC has no voting power or a seat on the board). Hulu has stated it is on track to generate over $500 million in revenue this year, making it a quite attractive property.

Earlier this week it was rumored Yahoo was interested in Hulu and had tendered an initial offer. No news on if that offer was considered, but the board has not met to discuss any offers, so it is doubtful Yahoo's offer was sufficient.

Last year, Hulu and Morgan Stanley floated the notion of an IPO, which went nowhere because the company couldn’t secure long-term exclusive content licenses from its owners.

VERIZON TO INTRODUCE TIERED DATA PLANS MID-SUMMER

Verizon Wireless has been saying for quite some time now that their $30 unlimited data plan was unsustainable and they would be investigating moving to tiered data. According to Fran Shammo, Verizon Wireless CFO, at the Morgan Stanley conference, the new data plans would debut in mid-summer.

Verizon started down the tiered road with its $15/150MB option, which quickly disappeared when their version of the iPhone launched. Shammo went on to say Verizon is still working through the details and that they don't yet know whether the tiers will be based on speed, bit buckets, or some combination of the two.