Whilst negotiations are still underway between Disney and Hulu ongoing (Hulu and Disney deal all but done). And the companies sweat over the fine print. Rumours are rife about Hulu running low on cash funds and needing the deal more than Disney.

Hulu which started just over a year ago had $100M of finance put into its setup and operation. And when your ad revenue isnt covering your costs $100 mill doesnt last forever. Hulu deny such claims, but then does any company running out of cash ever admit it?

Because of the massive size and growth of Hulu it is not a surprise that they have gone through the vast majority of their finance in the past few months. The investment made by NBC and FOX is unknown, but with Hulu’s advertising revenue still not covering the costs and their traffic growing at a massive rate, Hulu is using cash up like its going out of fashion.

During February, Hulu streamed over 300M streams and according to comScore, drew in 34.7 million viewers as well. And the word on the street is that Hulu is only filling about 50% of its ad inventory which has not been helped by the downtown of online advertising in the current recession.

If Hulu truly is ruining low on cash alleged, then it puts Disney in prime position in their negotiations with Hulu and probably gives them more clout than they had a year ago. Was this the Disney plan from the beginning? who knows but it will be very interesting to hear more about the deal if and when it happens. And that deal is expected to be announced very soon.

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3. Disney online TV love triangle now includes Hulu
4. ITV Close To Signing A Deal With Hulu But May Delay UK Launch
5. Hulu Deal With ITV UK Coming To A Conclusion