Business

Hulu who’s who

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If dealmaking tops the agenda at the annual Allen & Co. retreat in Sun Valley, then Hulu is this year’s Topic A.

The owners of the Web-TV destination, in particular Disney’s Bob Iger, have said they are “committed” to selling the site. Problem is, potential suitors aren’t exactly sure what they’re buying.

Hulu’s big media backers have pledged to supply their programming to the site for a period of time, but what is not known is how long those contracts last and how soon TV shows will appear on Hulu after airing on traditional broadcast and cable.

Those licensing issues will depend on how much money is on the table, according to our sources. Another source close to the process says more details will be revealed to potential buyers further along in the sales process.

Hulu is owned by Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners. (News Corp. also owns The Post.)

The venture was first announced in March 2007 and launched a year later.

As for who will buy it, some speculate that the premium content site, run by former Amazon executive Jason Kilar, could be valuable to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos.

Amazon has already expressed an interest in broadening its Amazon Instant Prime content service, which offers unlimited streaming access to 6,000 movie and TV shows. Hulu would likely supercharge that effort.

Our sources say bankers have been pitching Hulu as a way to head off the wild popularity of Netflix, which has close to 24 million subscribers and has seen its shares soar 150 percent during the past 12 months and close yesterday at $292.42, a 52-week high amid the sale chatter.

Other potential buyers that have been mentioned include Google’s YouTube, Yahoo! and Microsoft, which is focusing much of its TV efforts on its Xbox gaming console. There have also been approaches from foreign buyers, or “international strategics.”

Online TV networks are a growing category. Disney confirmed today that it is selling the online rights to two soap operas, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” to a new video site run by former Disney executive Rich Frank and producer Jeff Kwatinetz. The shows are likely to be the first of many for the yet-to-be named destination.

Blake Krikorian, the TV-tech entrepreneur, told The Post that with HBO now putting almost all of its content online — albeit behind a pay-TV password-protected area — the regular TV channel is more limited than what’s available with a broadband connection or iPad. catkinson@nypost.com