Time Warner's talks about acquiring a stake in the streaming service Hulu have intensified, according to a published report.
Hulu is owned by Comcast, Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox and is seen as the traditional TV industry's answer to Netflix.
But if Netflix is damaging the pay-TV environment by siphoning off viewers and teaching them how much fun commercial-free viewing is, the key question become how can Hulu thrive without causing similar damage.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Time Warner believes that the presence of the current season's episodes of network shows shouldn't appear outside of pay TV becuase it encourages cord cuttting.
But it was not clear that the issue was a deal killer, the paper said.
Hulu puts some shows, such as USA's Suits, behind a pay wall so that only pay-TV subscribers can see the episodes.
