Hulu is a relatively small premium content site that is owned by Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), Providence Equity Partners, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and the NBCUniversal unit of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Hulu says it will press into the paid content business as well. Hulu’s CEO, Jason Kilar, said at a recent AllThingsD conference that, “It is important that we deliver great content and stories that aren’t being told right now. And that serves two purposes. One, consumers are asking for it. And second, it does build up healthy differentiation versus other services.” What stories and what differentiation?

The major internet content and traditional VOD services have most of what consumers want. Otherwise, they would have no chance at success in the industry. It is important to have Saving Private Ryan in inventory. It is not important to have a French period piece from the 1930s — particularly if it does not have English subtitles. Kilar knows that. His chances of success are tiny.

No one will entirely elbow aside the cable box on the top of most TVs, whether that box is from a cable company, satellite company or telecom operator. Netflix forced its way into the home through its initial DVD business. No other competitor had that early advantage, least of all Hulu.

Hulu also has to compete with several extremely well-financed businesses that nonetheless are likely to fail because they are late to market. First among these is the largest video site in the world — Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube. Despite its size and the size of Google’s balance sheet, Hollywood studios have been wary of YouTube’s hundreds of millions of amateur clips and its reputation as a site on which premium content is sometimes found without the permission of the owner.

Hulu is among of the last premium video companies to try to bring content to the living room. Even if it was not too late, it is too small and has no competitive advantages.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Apple iPad 3

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) probably will release a new version of its iPad, called the iPad 3, within two months. The upgrades to the product will be important. It will have a quad-core processor, which will make it the “fastest” tablet on the market. Its screen will be upgraded to high definition, a critical issue with multimedia users. The most important change will be that the iPad 3 will work on 4G LTE ultrafast wireless networks. These networks have become the most highly marketed products for AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless. Apple has been slow to market with a compatible product. That has allowed several Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android devices to get 4G footholds. Apple could reverse those gains this spring with the iPad 3.

Hulu Original Programming

Video website Hulu, owned by NBCUniversal, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Providence Equity Partners, says it will launch its own programming. The first series will be called Battleground. There is little reason to be optimistic that the new project will help Hulu. The number of content businesses controlled by cable companies and major media firms is too large to allow a company of only modest size to compete. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will move into content creation. And there is no reason to believe that Apple and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), each of which has a distribution system, will not do so as well.

China’s GDP

New economists’ predictions are that China’s growth will drop to a three-year low, as fourth-quarter GDP moved higher by only 8.7%, according to new estimates. That growth rate is still extraordinary, but whether it can support the manufacturing capacity of the People’s Republic and its new middle class is a worry. China cannot be “decoupled” from the balance of the global economy. Lack of a financial recovery in the UK, EU, U.S. and Japan are too great a burden. And the Chinese middle class cannot grow without expansion in its production and export sectors.

Douglas A. McIntyre

RBS cuts 3,500 investment bank jobs. (Reuters)

RealtyTrac reports that foreclosures reached a four-year low in 2011. (Reuters)

International Monetary Fund senior executive Lipton sees no hard landing in China. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will delay it web TV plans. (Reuters)

The FCC may ask TV broadcasters to return unused spectrum so it can be auctioned to wireless carriers. (Reuters)

LG’s handset numbers rise in Q4 and the company says it will continue to invest in its wireless division. (Reuters)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) faces trouble with pension money it owes in the UK. (Reuters)

Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) will buy Morgan Keegan. (Reuters)

An oversupply of natural gas pushes prices to historic lows. (WSJ)

Carlyle’s three founders earned more than $400 million last year. (WSJ)

More senior bankers leave Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). (WSJ)

CIT (NYSE: CIT) will no longer finance loans to Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) suppliers. (WSJ)

Emerging market nations step up their activity as they sell more bonds. (WSJ)

The Environmental Protection Agency releases a list of plants that emit the most greenhouse gases. (WSJ)

Food prices in India fall. (WSJ)

The Fed Beige Book says holiday sales helped the economy at the end of last year. (WSJ)

President Obama to propose tax cuts for companies that bring jobs back from overseas. (WSJ)

Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal say Europe is the greatest threat to U.S. expansion. (WSJ)

Daniel Alegre, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) chief in Asia, says the company will press for more market share in China. (WSJ)

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) finds an unapproved fungicide in orange juice products. (WSJ)

Hotels establish a booking site to compete with Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN). (WSJ)

Industry researchers Gartner and IDC say PC shipments fell in the past quarter. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) says its fourth-quarter results were weak. (WSJ)

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) may make a bid for the LA Dodgers. (WSJ)

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) will cut 1,000 jobs. (WSJ)

Coors Light passes Bud as the number two beer in the U.S. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) will introduce new models to try to salvage Lincoln. (WSJ)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission tightens rules for swaps activity. (WSJ)

The eurozone will be challenged again as members refinance billions of dollars of debt early this year. (NYT)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to announce programs to extend the mortgage payments of the unemployed. (NYT)

EU oil refiners cut ties with Iran. (FT)

China’s consumer inflation falls to 4.1%. (FT)

The head of Fiat says car makers must merge. (FT)

A move to safety cuts Treasury yields below 2%. (FT)

German December inflation slowed. (Bloomberg)

Delhaize Group, which owns Food Lion, will cut 5,000 jobs around the world. (Bloomberg)

Italy and Spain to offer 17 billion euro in debt sales. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

• Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) continued its revolving door policy, showing CEO Leo Apotheker the exit in September after the SAP (NYSE: SAP) software veteran fumbled the TouchPad tablet launch. During his 11-month tenure, the common stock fell some 45% in value. Apotheker had hoped to leverage HP’s strengths in global reach and hardware to make the webOS-based device a formidable competitor to Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) ubiquitous iPad. He bungled magnificently — the product was killed a mere six weeks after its launch due to anemic sales. Nonetheless, despite his failure to lead, Apotheker received almost $16 million in compensation: a severance payment of $7.2 million (including the accelerated vesting of shares worth $3.6 million and a performance bonus of $2.4 million) and a cash sign-on bonus totaling $8.6 million. HP believed the severance package, also called the “Apotheker Agreement,” was appropriate — in “recognition of, among other things, the compensation from his former employee being foregone … and the considerable expense he incurred in relocating his family to the United States (from Europe).” The board of directors might want to reconsider its “pay-for-results” ethos.

• Can Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), industry leader in the online coupon discounting space, defy the odds? Of the 30 social media or Internet-related IPOs launched since the start of 2010, 60% are trading below their offering price, according to Birinyni Associates analyst Kevin Pleines. In two amended prospectus filings leading up to its November 4 IPO, the company backed away from a controversial accounting metric. In particular, Groupon’s original offering prospectus in July focused on “adjusted income” of $81.6 million. In actuality, the company’s operations had generated losses of $117.8 million in the quarter ending March 31 — if some $200 million in online marketing expenses were recognized. Conveniently, adjusted income does not reflect the significant working capital consumed in acquiring subscribers. Come 2012, whether Groupon can continue to trade above its original IPO of $20 a share ultimately will depend on the company posting real earnings and cash flow growth.

• MF Global Holdings became the first U.S. casualty of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011, filing for bankruptcy on October 31. Though he has yet to acknowledge culpability, the blame rests squarely with chairman and chief executive Jon Corzine, who pushed the financial derivatives broker-dealer to make an ill-timed $11.5 billion bet on European bonds (with borrowed money). Corzine’s judgment that European leaders would resolve the euro crisis, leading to a rebound in the value of MF Global’s holdings, proved dead wrong. As the euro crisis intensified, the value of MF Global’s bonds dropped, leading to margin calls and the subsequent collapse of the company. Bondholders of a $325 million offering last August probably are rethinking their insistence of a “key man event” clause, which stated that “the interest rate applicable to the notes would be subject to an increase of 1.00% upon the departure of Mr. Corzine as full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States.” In hindsight, bond buyers probably would have accepted 100 basis points less to have been rid of the erstwhile New Jersey senator and governor.

• Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) insists that professional basketball is not a significant driver of restaurant sales (like the NFL). Nonetheless, the share price rose 10% in the days following word that NBA owners and players reached a new labor accord over the Thanksgiving weekend, ending a five-month lockout that led to the loss of 16 games in the regular 82 game season schedule. Notwithstanding a potential labor dispute in the NHL next year (collective bargaining agreement expiry), profitability at the chicken-wing restaurant chain could come undone in 2012 due to rising poultry prices. A report by the USDA suggests that a combination of high feed costs and (anticipated) processing cutbacks could send boneless/skinless breast prices into the $1.50 to $1.60 per pound range by spring, from $1.15 per pound in November 2011. Wings accounted for 39% of third-quarter 2011 sales, according to the Buffalo Wild Wing’s quarterly filing with the SEC.

• In straightforward fashion, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) reported that the company faced criminal investigations regarding the well-publicized phone hacking scandal and “inappropriate payments” (bribes) to British police made by higher-ups at the media company’s erstwhile publication, News of the World. “It is also possible that these proceedings could damage our reputation and impair our ability to conduct our business,” declared the 10-K filing. You think? In July, the media conglomerate withdrew its $12.4 billion takeover bid for British pay-TV satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), following pressure from the government. Despite mounting legal problems, it was another profitable year for anyone named Murdoch at the family-controlled holding. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch took home total compensation of $33.3 million, up from $22.7 million in 2010; his son James, deputy chief operating officer, pocketed $17.9 million, a 70% increase over the prior year. It looks like the financial messes resulting from the newspaper scandal did not damage the Murdochs’ ability to conduct business.

Read the rest of the “Worst of the Bad” regulatory filings of 2011 in tomorrow’s 24/7 Wall St.

David Phillips

Publishers claimed that as the last recession deepened, their industry was in a cyclical decline. The industry would right itself financially when the economic trouble had passed. Most industry analysts disagreed. The problem was secular, they said. Online news outlets had taken away too many readers and too much advertising. Major newspapers had only a decade of life, if that.

The success of online subscription sales for some newspapers is the most positive change that has occurred. This is particularly true of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. They invest in news coverage that is broad and deep enough to make their content extremely valuable to large numbers of readers. Many subscribers recognize this value for these newspapers and are willing to pay to have access to articles online. This is an important point to consider since most online news is free.

24/7 Wall St. examined the fortunes of the ten largest newspapers in the United States by daily circulation. We have also looked at online visitors based on data from research firm Compete. What we found was that a small number of these properties have good financial prospects. The others are not much better off than they were at the depth of the recession, despite of the significant costs that they have cut from the business.

Job losses at major banks continue. On the heel of layoffs by Nomura (NYSE: NMR) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), Dutch banking and insurance firm ING (NYSE: ING) said it would fire 2,700 people. Among the primary causes for the action was a 467 million euro charge for its Greek debt holdings. Many more financial firms in the region have similar exposure. The downsizing of the industry in the region is not over.

Fed unemployment forecast increased. The Federal Reserve increased its three-year forecasts for unemployment and dropped its forecasts for GDP growth. The markets did not react to the news. They should have. Many economists assume that the central bank will use monetary policy to help the economy if it stumbles — a program that many call QE3. The problem is that interest rates are already near zero. It will be hard to do much more to help the economy beyond offering what is practically interest-free money.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) announced reasonably strong earnings. The media firm’s pillar of strength continues to be its cable operations, particularly Fox News. The creation of the network was a stroke of genius. It has more than offset revenue problems at the company’s other divisions — particularly the newspapers. The Murdochs may be under siege because of the London wiretapping scandal, but as long as Fox News remains popular with viewers, the company’s earnings should be protected.

Parent company of Filene’s Baseement files for bankruptcy. The weak retail economy took another victim. Discount retailer Syms Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMS) and its Filene’s Basement division filed for bankruptcy. The firm could not even come up with the capital to see if holiday sales could save it.  Syms Corp. is so badly battered that all of its stores will be closed.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The expanding Greek debt problem will trouble the G20 summit. (Reuters)

Groupon’s IPO may be a dollar higher than its $16 to $18 price range. (Reuters)

BNP Paribas takes at 2 billion euro write-down on Greek debt. (Reuters)

ING (NYSE: ING) to cut 2,700 people because of trouble with its Greece sovereign paper. (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will offer a software update to help extend battery life in the iPhone 4S. (Reuters)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) starts a digital library book service. (Reuters)

The EU warns Greece that its place in the union could be threatened unless it immediately agrees to new debt provisions. (WSJ)

A judge allows Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) to challenge the AT&T (NYSE: T) deal to buy T-Mobile. (WSJ)

Aol (NYSE: AOL) posts a loss despite gains in ad revenue. (WSJ)

Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ: QCOM) net income rises sharply on sales of cellphones that use its products. (WSJ)

Economic data show that the eurozone has moved toward an economic downturn. (WSJ)

Drug makers try to reverse regulations that do not allow them to market pharma products for off-label use. (WSJ)

The head of Lexus in the U.S. says car sales will be weak this year. (WSJ)

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) revenue rises because of improvements in it cable properties. (WSJ)

A study from Citizens for Tax Justice shows large companies still pay little in taxes. (NYT)

The EU suspends 8 billion euros in Greek aid while the future of austerity in the nation is tested. (FT)

Greece’s membership in the eurozone will be put to a vote by members. (Bloomberg)

Growth of China’s nonmanufacturing sector slows.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The FBI may investigate the fall of MF Global (NYSE: MF). (Reuters)

Sony (NYSE: SNE) cuts its annual profit forecast by 90%. (Reuters)

PIMCO’s Bill Gross says U.S. banks must raise more capital. (Reuters)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) drops a plan for $5 a month debit card charges. (Reuters)

Facebook continues to struggle to attract large branded advertisers, which use member pages to generate interest. (WSJ)

Banks across the world begin sharp cost cuts. (WSJ)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) discusses a plan with PE firms that would allow them to take a modest interest but not gain control of the company. (WSJ)

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) begins to compete with Zynga. (WSJ)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will market branded Lipitor after the drug goes off patent. (WSJ)

U.S. auto sales rise 7.5% in October, which is below expectations. (WSJ)

Many wealthy Chinese want to leave the country. (WSJ)

Transocean (NYSE: RIG) increases legal action against BP (NYSE: BP) from events arising from Deepwater Horizon. (WSJ)

New data show that the News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) Wall Street Journal had the largest circulation in the U.S. in the most recent half year measured, followed by Gannett’s (NYSE: GCI) USA Today and New York Times Company’s (NYSE: NYT) flagship paper. (WSJ)

Many S&P 500 companies issue weak Q4 guidance. (WSJ)

The most distressed commercial real estate begins to draw investors. (WSJ)

A vocal minority in Greece want the nation to return to its own currency. (WSJ)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) warns that more subscribers will cancel and shares fall 24%. (Reuters)

Nearly 35% of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) investors vote against James Murdoch as a member of the board. (Reuters)

Zynga will have its IPO in late November. (Reuters)

Amazon.com’s (NASADQ: AMZN) results could be hurt by the expense of the Kindle Fire. (Reuters)

The Federal Reserve may work to drive interest rates down again to help the home market. (Reuters)

The drop in BP’s (NYSE: BP) production has reached a bottom. (Reuters)

A judge turns down a Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) request to get internal documents from AT&T (NYSE: T). (Reuters)

Regulators examine more trades at SAC, some of which go back nine years. (WSJ)

Credit cards may use personal information to target advertising. (WSJ)

UBS (NYSE: UBS) profits fall. (WSJ)

More worries arise about an EU region recession. (WSJ)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) talks with hedge funds about financing. (WSJ)

Fedex (NYSE: FDX) predicts its holiday shipment volume will be strong. (WSJ)

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) reopens 13 stores in China. (WSJ)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) begins to lure app developers for the BlackBerry. (WSJ)

Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) to put $250 million into 11 universities over the next several years to bring in top students. (WSJ)

The FAA requests that tail parts on Boeing (NYSE: BA) 757s be checked. (WSJ)

Mattel buys children’s toy company HIT Entertainment. (WSJ)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has to quickly make new Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows-powered smartphones for the holiday season. (WSJ)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to sell its subprime mortgage service company Saxon Mortgage Services. (WSJ)

Banks have few ways to make money on huge deposit pools. (NYT)

Greek bondholders resist plans for them to take 60% write-downs on the nation’s sovereign paper as a part of a restructuring. (FT)

U.S. mortgage bonds hit a six-month low on Obama’s home refinance program plans. (FT)

EU officials want more time to create a bailout facility. (Bloomberg)

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to cut 2,000 people. (Bloomberg)

Banks in Italy and Spain may take the largest hits in an EU rescue plan. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

EU leaders press Italy for more austerity measures. (Reuters)

China’s October PMI is moderately higher. (Reuters)

Barron’s expects Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock to rise up to 25%  in the next year. (Reuters)

Investors want News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) to sell its newspapers and double the size of its share buybacks. (The Telegraph)

U.S. companies that have already cut costs to the bone are prepared to do so again. (WSJ)

A deal between the UAW and Chrysler is close. (WSJ)

Japan had a trade surplus last month. (WSJ)

Tension between Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) and its creditors rises as the company’s cash balance continues to fall. (WSJ)

Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) will try to get a federal judge to sue AT&T (NYSE: T) over its proposed buyout of T-Mobile. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will create a music download store linked to social network Google+. (WSJ)

Ratings at NBC, now a unit of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), are in trouble. (WSJ)

Both Google and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) show interest in participating with groups that might buy Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). (WSJ)

Booz & Co. reports that companies that spend a lot of money on R&D often are not considered innovative. (WSJ)

A new study shows more workers lose jobs to machines. (NYT)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to launch new smartphones as skeptics watch sales. (NYT)

Problems in Europe will cause banks to have to raise 108 billion euros, up from recent estimates of 80 billion. (FT)

The U.S. Treasury may issue floating rate securities. (FT)

Volkswagen may become the largest car company in the world this year based on sales. (FT)

The EU will not count on the ECB to help fund bailout initiative. (Bloomberg)

UBS (NYSE: UBS) and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to increase cuts as they face more losses from EU problems. (Bloomberg)

The National Association for Business Economics says planned jobs cuts are at the worst level since 2010. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre