[Satellite TODAY Insider 08-29-11] U.S. pay-TV Dish Network is planning to enter the first round of bidding to acquire Internet streaming service Hulu, joining Google, Amazon, Yahoo, News Corp., Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal, Providence Equity Partners and DirecTV as potential buyers, several analysts confirmed Aug. 26 with Satellite TODAY Insider.

            Hulu’s acquisition price is expected be about $2 billion. Hulu, which streams movies, TV shows and Web-exclusive video content, will continue to field offers through Aug. 27. Analysts previously expected the bidding war to end Aug. 24.

            A potential purchase of Hulu would represent Dish Network’s latest major acquisition during a year that has already seen the company, and its sister entity EchoStar, round up Blockbuster, DBSD North America, TerreStar Networks and Hughes Network Systems in a spending spree worth more than $3 billion in assets.

            In March 2011, Dish Network got a bankruptcy court approval to acquire DBSD North America for a total consideration of approximately $1.4 billion. In July, Dish Network won approval to acquire TerreStar Networks for $1.375 billion. The DBSD acquisition provided Dish Network with a block of 20 MHz S-band spectrum for both wireless and wireline networks, while TerreStar provided another block of 20 MHz S-band spectrum.

            An analyst, who asked not to be named for this story, told Satellite TODAY Insider that, while combining Hulu and Blockbuster assets would significantly strengthen the broadcaster’s position to take on Netflix and its main competitor DirecTV, Dish Network’s interest in the move has recently diminished.

            “Everyone knows that Dish Network was making strategic assessments of Hulu and that DirecTV’s participation in the bidding war was really an effort to counter its competitor,” the analyst said. “Dish Network currently maintains a significant amount of airwaves and its acquisition of Blockbuster has helped the company convert its business model as an innovative triple-play voice, video and data service provider. That said, the recent U.S. debt crisis and the fact that Dish has already spent a lot of money makes it much more likely that [Dish Network CEO] Joseph Clayton will look to cheaper acquisitions.”