Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) will bombard its customers with content. It is opening a new business that will offer its cable subscribers a massive library of films and TV shows that they can also watch on the internet. Comcast hopes to offer up to 6,000 movies.

According to The New York Times, "Comcast is already the world's largest buyer of content, and it is spending about $4.5 billion a year to assemble content from around the world to offer on demand."

While Comcast's TV offerings will be only available to subscribers, its internet video site will be open to the public. But how does that help the company? Comcast is up against established internet video sites, ranging from YouTube to the higher end Hulu. There is abundant video material already on the web.

From a cable VOD standpoint, most consumers only watch the most popular films. Having thousands of extra films is hardly likely to bring in extra subscribers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Studios are up to something -- and it sounds like an attack on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes online audio and video store. After breaking ties with Apple this past summer and no longer supplying its content to the iTunes store, NBC is probably looking for some way to deliver its shows in ways that go beyond mere broadcast television.

Without access to iTunes, NBC risks losing those many viewers who no longer watch much regular television, zap through commercials with their DVRs when they do, and get their video fixes via websites.

So, NBC partners with SanDisk, a company known for making flash computer storage and for being the second-largest seller in the world of digital music players (behind Apple). But here's the catch: the new partnership is about delivering NBC's content to set-top boxes meant for regular television viewing. Huh? Is NBC just looking for some partnership -- any partnership -- so viewers won't forget about its programming?

What happened to the Hulu deal, which sounded more like an iTunes competitor rather than the same old model of delivering content via set-top boxes to customer's television sets? Apparently nothing. Is NBC becoming desperate? Some signs point to yes. Was Apple wise to treat its former content partner like a black sheep? Most signs point to yes.

As Doug wrote this past Monday, NBC and Fox launched Hulu, where you can watch television series, shows and even feature-length films from the two networks. With Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes, Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) Unbox and Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, is this launch even necessary? If so, why now?

Well, the television studios do not want to become irrelevant in the age of online video. Too late. There are certain generations who will watch television shows in front of the standard boob tube (the same demographic that seeks out physical newspapers instead of Google News), while other generations will, in the future, watch most of their video online. The Hulu venture is basically television transferred to the internet -- it will be free and ad-supported, just like traditional over-the-air television (sans cable or satellite). But when two competitors join hands to make it happen, red flags start going up. Is there single management of the content? What agenda is there?

And, should YouTube be worried? YouTube is nowhere close to being a broadcast television replacement, with its small-size and substandard video and mono audio. That doesn't mean the technical capability could not be there soon to leapfrog those current limitations and deliver a complete and entertaining experience that would engage each viewer. Google may already be working on this. Say it with me: YouTube 2.

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal and News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) Fox have launched [subscription required] their video site Hulu. Fox will offer a number of its shows on the website and NBC will put up programming from its cable networks and some of its feature-length films.

All of this premium content will be wrapped into a video site, Hulu, and be offered through distribution partners including Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) MSN, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and MySpace. The issue of whether the content will be available on Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube is still open for negotiation.

The new venture appears to be a perfect example of large companies managing a problem to death. It is not clear why Fox and NBC could not have cut their own content distribution deals without having to band together. It is equally unclear why anyone would go to the Hulu site if the content can be seen at larger web properties

Perhaps some of the online media executives at the two networks wanted to make sure that it appeared they were making progress on getting their programming onto the web. It might be a good way to keep a job, at least for now.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

An entire industry has formed to aid companies in finding names for products. Still, the new video-sharing site created by partners News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and General Electic's (NYSE:GE) NBC Universal has run smack into a lawsuit over exactly that, the choice of the site's name, Hulu. Lulu, a company that provides turnkey self-publishing for authors, claims that Hulu infringes on its trademark. Since Lulu is expanding its services beyond print media to market videos, e-books and other digital entertainment, it may have a reasonable argument here.

In a bit of delicious irony, the New York Times quotes Lulu founder Bob Young as saying that, in Swahili, hulu means "cease and desist."

If the partners are forced to drop the Hulu name for their YouTube-like service, I have a few suggestions for their consideration:

• Guggle
• LuTube
• My Spulu
• Hu-Bay
• Higg
• Yuhoo!
• Netflu
• BluingBluing