Hulu appoints Larcher for international role

by Tristan O'Carroll, mediaweek.co.uk 25-Mar-09, 10:55

LONDON - Hulu, the News Corp and NBC Universal-backed online video service, has signalled its overseas ambitions by appointing an international chief, Johannes Larcher.

Larcher joins from search engine outfit Overture as Hulu's senior vice-president of international, to lead the video portal's expansion efforts outside the US.

Hulu is only available in the US, although News Corp and NBC Universal are known to be planning to expand the service internationally.

Prior to joining Hulu, Larcher served in a number of internationally focused roles, including general manager of international at Overture. He also served as vice-president and general manager, international, for Friendster, the social network.

Should Hulu enter the UK, it will be hoping to capitalise on the opportunity wrought by the demise of Project Kangaroo, the planned VoD service from BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and ITV blocked from launch by the Competition Commission earlier this year.

Hulu's US rivals are also hatching international expansion plans of their own. This month, CBS' online video service TV.com became available to non-US users for the first time. Meanwhile, Google's YouTube has recently launched video downloads.