Rumors are flying around that Hulu, the TV streaming service, is marketing itself and is looking for a buyer.  In the last few days, Microsoft, who was supposedly in the running to acquire the company, had backed off, leaving Hulu still looking for a possible buyer.  Could it be Apple?

Especially with TV streaming invading the mobile scene, Hulu is not one to take the backseat, as competitors are slowly inching their way into the mobile realm.  And it looks like the Hulu acquisition may be back on, as rumors have surfaced that Apple may be the one to acquire the video streaming company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is in the early stages of examining Hulu LLC, a video-streaming pioneer that is being considered for sale by its owners. (To be accurate, at a $2 billion valuation, Hulu would wipe out less than 3% of Apple’s $76 billion cash pile.

Sources say the deal would include a five-year extension of programming rights, with two of those years being exclusive. Apple would have a use for this, and it would obviously turn Apple TV from a “hobby”into a serious part of its business overnight. Its other products, from iPhone to iPad and even the Mac platform would all benefit.

Though Apple did meet up with execs from Hulu, the acquisition is still not underway as some analysts think that this acquisition, though it may be profitable for Apple, is something quite unfamiliar for Apple in terms of Hulu’s free, ad-supported business.

Other companies rumored to possibly acquire Hulu are Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Verizon, AT&T, Liberty Media/DirectTV.  So for now, Hulu better poise itself to reel in perspective buyers as currently, it seem like there are no takers.