Hulu’s highest bidders? Google and Dish Network

Streaming video service Hulu has had a second series of bids from potential buyers, ranging from $1.9 billion to $4 billion, reports Business Insider.

The service, which provides ad-supported premium TV and film content to users, has been up for sale since June. Hulu’s owners — News Corp., Walt Disney, Comcast — would rather sell the service than continue to conflict over Hulu’s future business strategy. The initial set of bids, made last month, have not been disclosed, but they apparently fell short of Hulu’s expectations, which were about $2 billion without any other stipulations.

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VentureBeat previously reported that the Hulu auction might not move forward if the offers aren’t high enough. However, two of the new bids are apparently being considered, according to the Business Insider report.

Google has the highest bid at a reported $4 billion, but the deal has various stipulation attached to it, like more content for a longer period of time. It’s possible that deal also contains stipulations about Google’s use of Hulu content through its Google TV platform, which would really give Google’s TV aspirations a huge boost.

Dish Networks’ bid of $1.9 billion is also getting serious consideration. That offer apparently has fewer (or no) stipulations. According to the report, Dish is willing to pay the price because it’s interested in the technology that powers Hulu. That technology would certainly be of value to Dish, which just started its own streaming video service that will indirectly compete with Netflix.