Before Hulu launched three years or so ago it was not-so-affectionately known among industry pontificators as “ClownCo” for how the companies backing it seemed to be tripping over each other and themselves as they sought some sort of legitimate alternative for people to watch TV shows online. I’ll admit to being one of the most skeptical that it would even launch much less be a hit but have since recognized that it’s kind of awesome.

Seems the networks backing it planned for just about every scenario except success and are now worried more than anything not about piracy but about how Hulu (and iTunes, Netflix and so on) are eating into their core business. So that derogatory nickname still appears to be accurate.