Potential Hulu buyers could be submitting their bids next week, according to a report from All Things D's Peter Kafka.
Hulu, which is owned by Disney, News Corp, and Comcast, is expecting bids to start at about $1.5 billion for the site and content licenses, "people familiar with the process" told Kafka. But that price is not set in stone, and neither is what Hulu is selling.
For example, Kafka notes that certain owners might opt to keep some of their stakes in the company, which would put Hulu at a lower price.
Hulu streams exclusive content from partners ABC, NBC, and Fox, and it will reportedly retain those rights when a sale happens. However, it's unclear what exactly those rights will look like, considering last month Fox put its broadcast shows behind a paywall. Before that, shows like Glee and The Simpsons would be posted on Hulu 24 hours after they aired. Starting August 15, that time will jump to eight days, unless users can prove they have a Hulu Plus or DISH network subscription.
News Corp COO Chase Carey touched on the Hulu sale in the company's earnings call on Wednesday.
"I think for us, it's still a decision to see where—what it looks like at the end," Carey said. "Does it make sense to pursue that path or does it make sense for us to stay in an ownership position and continue to have it driven by content owners… I'll let Hulu speak to it in more detail."
Many companies have been mentioned as possible buyers, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and others. Kafka speculates that Yahoo is the "most logical buyer." In fact, Yahoo is the first company that was rumored as having interest in Hulu. When talk of a Hulu sale first started up in June. At the time, there were claims that Yahoo had approached Hulu with an "unsolicited offer."