Hulu Opens to the Public Wednesday

Hulu, the video-streaming site backed jointly by Fox and NBC Universal which debuted in late October, is about to open to the public. On Wednesday, the wraps will come off the service which, until now, has been invitation-only. The service will still be U.S.-only, however.

It was probably no coincidence that NBC Universal decided to not renew its iTunes distribution deal last year.

Hulu is ad-supported (what else?) and streams both TV shows and feature films from more than 50 content providers including NBC, Fox, Sony Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The emailed press release indicates at launch they will add Warner Brothers Television Group and Lionsgate, along with NBA and NHL highlights and well as full-length historical NCAA basketball games (what, no live Tourney coverage!).

According to Hulu, since the beta launch, Hulu's content has been seen by more than 5 million viewers across the Web. Additionally, they continued, the site's player has been embedded over 50,000 times across 5,000 sites (I know I've done it!).

The big questions will circle around financial viability and content.

Some are enamored with the way advertising is handled on Hulu. During some shows, viewers will be able to choose which ad they watch; some viewers are also be given the opportunity to watch a two-minute film preview before a TV show, and then skip all the other commercial breaks (Woo-hoo! Bathroom break and the start and then no interruptions!).

Since Hulu doesn't allow you to download content, unlike iTunes, you can't download and save it. If you miss an episode - and content is rotated - it could be annoying. If you can't be sure show x of your favorite show is there, you might turn elsewhere - perhaps even to BitTorrent.

Still, the service has managed to change the opinions of many since its launch. That's encouraging. It's possible that tomorrow the site will be swamped with new users, so don't be disappointed if performance is poor. Wait for the dust to settle, and give it a chance.