Hulu Seeks To Work With Cable and Satellite Companies

      Hulu succeeded as a way to watch current and popular television shows online. Suddenly, entire seasons of such popular cable network shows as "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" were abruptly taken off the site. By July 2011, Fox began restricting next day-streaming of its prime-time shows to customers of cable and satellite companies, and they began imposing an eight-day delay on Hulu. Hulu won praise for its ease of use, and caught on quickly with users. A newly installed Hulu executive team is believed to already be pursuing deals with cable operators to offer subscribers access to Hulu as a way to watch current shows online, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. Hulu's owners found it hard to work together and put Hulu up for sale. Hulu looked good to pay-television distributors DirectTV and Time Warner Cable Inc., as well as media companies Guggenheim Digital Media and Chernin Group. Hulu's owners 21st Century Fox Inc., Walt Disney Co., and Comcast Corp., cancelled the proposed Hulu sale last July, and announced they would instead invest $750 million in a streaming video service. Hulu will enable viewers to watch recent episodes of such popular prime-time shows as "Big Bang Theory," "Sleepy Hollow," and "The Voice." See also, www.nytimes.com.