Hulu, not YouTube, will dominate the future of online video. - Inspired by Saul Hansell

Early this week, YouTube revealed a deal it has in the works to let users watch a number of full length movies and old TV shows from MGM. However according to Saul Hansell of the New York Times, it is Hulu that dominates this section of the online video space: "after a year, Hulu.com, the joint venture between NBC and Fox, has become the most prominent site for mainstream TV shows and, increasingly, movies."

Says Jim Packer, MGM’s co-president: “We will have some long-form videos up on YouTube, but I don’t think that’s the platform to have 30 or 40 movies up at once. I feel much more comfortable doing that on a site like Hulu.”

According to Hansell, YouTube's problems (and hence Hulu's success) stem from a couple of different issues. For one thing, the site is difficult to navigate: "the site itself is a mess." Yet another factor tipping the scales towards Hulu: "Studios are wary of YouTube’s historically lax attitude toward posting copyrighted material. Many media companies worry about the rising power of Google over their own business. And some worry about having their multimillion-dollar epics shuffled in between home videos of babies plopping the pudding on their hair."