LA Times: Microsoft is looking at buying Hulu

Microsoft is looking at buying Hulu, according to a Friday report from the Los Angeles Times.

The report cited anonymous sources familiar with the negotiations, who said Google and Yahoo are also interested buyers.

Hulu is an online television website that has rights to current season TV shows.

Microsoft is working its way into the living room through the TV with its Xbox video game console. It already offers some video through its Xbox Live online service. It offers some of ESPN's sports content. Microsoft said at the E3 video game conference it will announce more television content for Xbox Live this year.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer spoke Wednesday at a Seattle Rotary Club lunch about how the definition of what the Xbox does will expand beyond video games. Here is an excerpt of his speech:

"There will be technology in the living room and around the television which will transform the way we think about video and video entertainment. It will be more social, it will be more interactive. I think that we may call it a console today, but a console, has a very kind of specific imagery in people's minds. It's the thing that the, you know, 18 year old uses to play certain kinds of games. But I think that technology, certainly what we've seen as we've watched Xbox with Kinect, we've broadened out the demographic of the people who will use those devices, we've broadened out the content and the experience."

Microsoft declined to comment on the LA Times report. Here is a link to the story in the Los Angeles Times.

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