NAB - Hulu Taps Signiant for Faster Content Uploads

by , 4:50 PM EDT, April 15th, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Content is king, and NBC's Hulu is looking to cash in on that by using Signiant's high speed digital media transfer tools. Signiant revealed at NAB that it is providing behind the scenes support to help streamline the process of adding content to the Hulu Web site.

Hulu is working to better position itself as an iTunes Store alternative, and by improving the process that NBC and its Hulu partners use to add content to the site, additional shows and movies should be available to users sooner.

According to Signiant executives, Hulu partners like Fox were able to transition from uploading several megabytes up to hundreds of gigabytes of content to the video viewing site each night. That boost dramatically increased the number of shows each partner could upload without requiring an increase in available bandwidth -- something that could prove to be critical if Hulu is ever to present a real threat to Apple's iTunes Store.

Signiant's technology lets users upload content at a quicker rate while allowing the recipient to manage content as it is received, maintain network security, and provide certified notices of receipt to senders.

Just because Signiant is working with Hulu, that doesn't mean Apple is out of the picture. The company announced last week that it is adding support for Final Cut Pro to its Signiant DMDMS 8.0 product. The new support means that Final Cut Pro users will be able to share content with other users more effectively, faster, and with built-in file error checking.

Just how well Hulu performs against the iTunes Store remains to be seen, but Signiant's technology could help give the Web-based service a nice content boost.