NBC, News Corp launch online video site Hulu.com

News Corp. and NBC Universal have finally taken the wraps off their joint-venture online video service Hulu.com. The long-awaited service made its debut today as a private beta and signed on both Sony and MGM to offer their programming beside homegrown NBC and Fox content.

The company said its videos would also be available through partners such as AOL, MSN and MySpace.com. All the content will feature commercial advertising, with ad revenue to be split among the content owners, the internet distributors and Hulu.

Some early reviews have started to pop up online praising the site’s design as well as the impressive amount of content and the relatively small amount of ads compared to the typical amount of ads in a regular television show. One major complaint was the fact that Hulu will only feature the last five weeks worth of content for any given show.

A full public launch is expected early next year, but Hulu videos are already available on AOL and should be available through other partner sites soon. If you’re located outside of the US, however, you may be out of luck as Hulu appears to be restricting distribution by geography.