According to the NY Post, Hulu, which attracted 31 million users last month, is in discussions to discontinue their free-for-everyone streaming platform. Instead, visitors would have to “log in with their cable or satellite TV account number” because “cable companies and networks [are] looking to protect and profit from their content.” In other words: if you canceled your cable subscription because your shows are online for free, you’re SOL.
A reporter from Tech Crunch asked “a source close to Hulu” about the rumor, and he/she said:
According to our source, Hulu and its content providers have talked about this move toward authentication since 2009. Our source noted that Hulu has no interest in being a first mover here and that a requirement for authentication is likely still a few years out. Hulu, however, does want to be a good partner and may have to give in to its partners’ pressure soon or later. Even though an authentication requirement isn’t likely to happen right away, though, our source notes that what could happen relatively soon is that the content providers could require longer delays before their shows become available on the service for non-subscribers. Cable subscribers, under this model, would get access to a show on Hulu the next day, while non-subscribers would have to wait at least 30 days. (Via)
In other, related news: the Pirate Bay will soon see a traffic increase of 53,024% Seriously, the sooner the old media farts who run NBCUniversal, News Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and Providence Equity Partners, who share ownership of Hulu, depart either their jobs or this existence, the better. Hopefully then the new regime will realize cable (and $200 cable bills) isn’t the future of TV.
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WOW, this is a bad idea. Apparently Hulu saw Netflix and thought, “Hey, they’re still doing well while alienating customers. Let’s do the same!”
I considered Hulu Plus until I did the trial and saw commercials. Screw that. I’ve been considering quitting Hulu altogether because of how frustratingly poorly buffered their ads are–I don’t mind free TV having ads, but at least make them watchable and have a little bit of variety. They play the same three every commercial break.
So I’d have to subscribe to cable tv to watch NBC online despite the fact I can watch NBC without a cable subscription? That’s good logic right there. Back to watching stuff via Chinese websites.
I’m sure NBC is spearheading this brilliant decision. Just like how they are streaming the Olypmics with Youtube, but still requiring authentication. Because my unquenchable thirst for catching up on the boating events certainly makes me want to pay cable.
Between 1 minute advertisements for 15 second clips and now this, Hulu has quickly gone full-retard.
Balinese shadow puppet theater here I come!
Aside from live sports, the only commercials I watch are on Hulu, and the only reason I watch Hulu (rather than DVR) is so that low rated shows that I care about (Community, Cougar Town, Awake) get noticed when I watch them. Fuck it.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure the advertisers and old men understand the draw of Hulu, so they probably don’t take Hulu viewership nearly as seriously as they do outmoded Nielsen ratings. “The old ways have always worked,” they say, “so why change? I’m sure Blockbuster is doing really well!” Josh has it right: once we get some new blood in the system, you’ll see one network or another go zooming past the others by finding a new way to reach their audiences at a reasonable price. The others will eventually catch up. In the meantime, we’re all going to be visiting Pirate Bay a lot more often.
DVR-Day-After and DVR-Plus+7 mean way more to the people in charge than Hulu numbers.
Yeah the woman who plays Shirley on Community that no one even pays attention to Hulu numbers.
Yeeeeah, this doesn’t make any sense for the broadcast networks. I’d rather watch more commercials on Hulu than have to pay to watch a broadcast show.
Theoretically, I mean. I have cable, so I really only use Hulu in a worst case scenario “my DVR screwed up and didn’t record my show and it’s not On Demand” situation. Watching TV on a laptop isn’t much fun.
Just to be clear, you can still get SOME shows on Hulu and Hulu Plus you just have to prove that you have a subscription to cable TV to gain access to their limited library.
Geniuses done got smarter.
So it’ll be just like HBO GO? You know, except without all the quality programming and with commercials tossed in.
I need to cancel Hulu Plus. I’ve only tried to use it twice and both times it didn’t actually have what I wanted to watch. It’s only $7.99 per month, but on top of the bajillion dollars I already pay for cable & Netflix, it just seems wasteful.
Also, just because the fat baby boomer lumps that occupy the executive offices may retire soon doesn’t mean change is coming. They’ve groomed their gen X replacements to be just as stupid and short sited as they are.
Not just stupid and short-sighted, but now we get lazy and entitled thrown in too!
“lazy and entitled”
Like people who want all of their arts, entertainment and information for free.
We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks a little.
If I wanted to watch shows streaming online and using my cable provider I’d use Comcast Xfinity, which I already do a lot (like for HBO shows). But most times I prefer Hulu. Dumb.
Seriously, if I have Comcast, why would I ever use Hulu in this situation?
Yea, I don’t get it. The people that most want to use Hulu, are non-cable subscribers. If you have cable, you probably have a DVR. So why use Hulu? For those times you want to watch on an Ipad? How often does that happen?
is in discussions to discontinue their free-for-everyone streaming platform
Hulu is not free to begin with..
While I don’t think this is the solution I also think it’s very typical of internet denizens to believe that there must exist in perpetuity some way for you to get everything free of charge. The future may not be in $200 cable bills, but there will be another way you’re paying for content.
I’d very happily pay for content (I subscribe to Hulu Plus). I just don’t want to pay $80-100 a month for 200 channels I don’t watch.
Agreed…I’m not sure where this “I want it, and I don’t want to pay for it, and if you don’t give it to me you’re EVIL” mentality came from among internet people. Yes this sucks, but you can’t really blame them for trying to get paid for the content they create.
But if you have one draw to your service and then you remove that draw, how is Hulu going to make money?
This doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.
If people are cancelling their cable/satellite and using Hulu, they could probably just pony up the $7.99/month to use the Hulu Plus service. People just always want something to bitch about, but I’m sure Hulu is getting squeezed by the networks and if they aren’t provided content, they have nothing to offer.
Also, people that bitch about the minimal ads on Hulu are annoying. Sure it sucks they don’t show more than a handful of ads, but there is far less commercials than watching on TV. Plus if they didn’t show ads, Hulu Plus would probably cost a lot more per month so I’m fine putting up with them. It’s not hard to just ignore commercials.
This is the first world problem to beat all first world problems.
“If people are cancelling their cable/satellite and using Hulu, they could probably just pony up the $7.99/month to use the Hulu Plus service.”
Except supposedly you won’t be able to watch Hulu Plus unless you have a cable subscription.
There is a rumor they’d make content available to non-cable subcribers a month after the show airs, which would be annoying, but I suppose palatable.
I will be honest, when I first skimmed over the article, I was afraid that it was saying that even Hulu Plus subscribers are going to have to show their cable subscription to use the service. Regardless, this is still a very ridiculous move considering you have to watch almost as many commercials on Hulu as you would if you watched it on broadcast. There might be 1 minute or 2 difference. That difference is probably just taking out the local commercials that would be in there with a network show.
I use Hulu Plus as a part of my $16/mo fixed content charge. I need it to watch on my 50in internet connected TV. Ads are annoying, but because their lazy a$$ sales force need to go out and find more advertisers. Not trying to get something for free, just trying not to commit commercials to memory. Hulu actually has some pretty good movies and a great history of old network shows. Netflix is grating on my nerves because selection seems smaller and they rotate movies in and out. Amazon Prime is effectively free if you ship much at all, and has decent selection, then I buy one-off programs (Archer available next day on A-Prime, for $19/season). Including A-Prime buys (Archer, Breaking Bad, SoA), I average about $20/mo on one-off purchases. Total spend is less than $50/mo and $50 for 20Mb internet. I’d be happy to just pay comcast $50/mo for all my streaming stuff, if I still get all my content.
And it bothers them that people pirate their shows. I have hulu+ and I really do like it, but I’m not going to keep going with them if this is the direction they are headed. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
What?! Now, Community will have even less views, because it’ll be easier for people to pirate it than to watch it on where it counts!
This is exactly what big media doesn’t yet get. People are willing to pay a little for content, sit through some commercials, etc. The key is how easy it is to do that. If Hulu becomes more difficult than pirate bay, then they’ll lose tremendously.
We have Netflix for about $8 with no commercials. It has about the same quality of content. Maybe hulu has some shows it doesn’t, but Netflix has some that hulu doesn’t. The final question is why should I pay equal or more for a service that does less than netflix. One more thing NEITHER SERVICE CAREIES THE BIG BANG THEORY! This really irritates me.