The Hulu (News - Alert) auction saga continues, as more companies are throwing their hats in the ring to bid on the streaming online TV company. The latest is AT&T, which is reportedly in discussions with the Chernin Group about mounting a joint bid to acquire the site.

The telco could leverage Hulu to bolster its TV Everywhere strategy, or to counter arch-rival Verizon’s over-the-top (OTT) gambit with Coinstar, the Redbox Instant by Verizon streaming service, which recently launched and has plans to extend to the Roku platform this summer.

All Things D, citing “sources close to the telecommunications giant,” noted that the two could offer a combined financial clout that would help them beat out the competition, which includes Yahoo!, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Guggenheim Partners.

The Chernin Group, an investment and media company run by former News Corp (News - Alert). COO Peter Chernin, offers AT&T, the benefits that extend past the finances and shared risk: Chernin helped guide the creation of Hulu under the News Corp. auspices and is intimately familiar with the streaming business.

Hulu, whose founding CEO Jason Kilar (News - Alert) left earlier in the year, charges $8 per month per Hulu Plus subscriber—and there are about 4 million of them. It also has an ad-supported free service. In all, in 2012 the company grew revenue 65 percent to almost $700 million.

Chernin Group already has a bid on the table that reportedly comes in around $500 million. But it’s expected that Hulu, which is owned by News Corp., Disney (News - Alert) and Comcast, will pull the plug on any sale if bids don’t meet a threshold level of at least $1 billion.

The company mulled an IPO in 2010 before putting itself up for auction in 2011. That effort was derailed by what it considered lowball bids at the time (it was asking $2+ billion). Earlier in the year Hulu let it be known that it was once again “open to suggestions” for an ownership change, while its Big Media parents considered other options, like Disney or News Corp. buying each other out. Comcast (News - Alert) is a bit of a non-player: has no management oversight in the company, as a condition of its merger with NBCUniversal.

Any bid will likely revolve around the continuation of Hulu’s exclusive content rights from its media owners. In 2011, Disney and News Corp. offered bidders five years of access to shows, including two years of exclusivity which would cover most hot primetime offerings. AllThingsD’s sources said they are now offering two to three years of rights, “with a lot of flexibility over removing content from the site.”