ITV is closing in on a deal to take a significant stake in Hulu, the US online TV venture backed by News Corporation and NBC Universal, which would make programmes including Coronation Street available on a UK service.

Hulu has been exploring options to launch a UK service with broadcasters since Project Kangaroo, the homegrown online TV joint venture between ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide, was blocked by competition regulators in February.

It is understood that Hulu has offered ITV an equity stake – thought to be significant and possibly more than 25% – in the UK venture. It is not thought to have made an equity offer to other UK players such as Channel 4.

In its US operation NBC, News Corporation and ABC each hold about 27% in Hulu.

"It is about proportionality and if ITV product drives Hulu in the UK, which it must do, then they need to get out of it what they put in," said one industry source. "They should be able to negotiate a significant stake in Hulu UK."

ITV is understood to be close to agreeing to give Hulu the rights to shows from ITV Productions.

A sticking point, as it was with Project Kangaroo, has been the question of ad sales. ITV has been reluctant to give up control of selling its own ads – it had wanted the contract for all ad sales for Project Kangaroo content – and splitting the sales of online ads for content on ITV Player and a Hulu UK service is problematic.

Hulu US is understood to have allowed ABC to maintain control of ad sales around its programmes on the service, and ITV wants a similar arrangement for the UK deal.

"The trouble for ITV is if there is a third-party sales deal [for ads around shows on Hulu] there can be difficulties in pricing and deals that are different from what ITV Sales is doing on the ITV Player," said the source.

According to analysts, ITV has been successful in monetising shows on the ITV Player and is at a crucial stage in growing the operation. A big part of its success is being able to keep ad prices high because it has not allowed its shows to be made available on any other service, thereby restricting the amount of ad inventory for advertisers to buy.

"The prices ITV has been able to charge at a premium have come from being able to choke off [ad] supply," said one analyst. "Selling ads is about maximising reach while maintaining the price of ads. Hulu is not actually market leading in monetising its service".

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