Hulu Offers Programming Perks With Sale

Streaming video buzz leads today's cable news roundup.

If Hulu LLC is sold, the new owner reportedly will be able to distribute programming from the Web video hub's backers -- Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) -- for five years. (See Hulu Nears 1M Paid Subs.)

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), already under fire for altering its subscription packages, suffered another video streaming outage on Sunday. It's been fixed, but Netflix didn't say what caused it. (See Netflix Subs Revolt .)

An additional 240,000 people living in the great Puget Sound region of Washington can surf the Web at FauxG speeds, after Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR), Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) expanded access to the wireless broadband network. (See Clearwire Sets Big City 4G Launch Dates .)

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) promoted Jeffrey Hirsch to EVP and chief marketing officer. He replaces longtime marketing head Sam Howe, who left the company.

TW Cable is spending $1 million to install more than four miles of underground and aerial fiber-optic cable in Bangor, Maine, to expand its service reach there.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) may elevate COO and former DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) chief Chase Carey to CEO, depending on how founder Rupert Murdoch performs at the British Parliament hearing today on the phone-hacking scandal, according to Bloomberg.

Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) launched Proust.com, a social network for seniors.

Here's an unusual sneak peek at Roku Inc. 's new over-the-top video set-top. (See Boxee, Roku Predict Pay TV's Transformation.)

— Steve Donohue, Special to Light Reading Cable, and Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable