Hulu May Drop Plus Service to $4.95 a Month

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tkid124

October 22, 2010 at 6:11am

People don't like paying for content, the fact that Hulu is free in any way makes it hard to convince their customers to hop on over and pay for having longer access to the show. So is it worth it if you have DVR & Cable, not really unless you travel a good bit. Then the portability of any internet connected computer would be nice. But can it compete with Cable? The price sure can, when I moved I decided to not get dish or cable, and using mostly Hulu have been very pleased, granted from time to time I do hop on Boxee and head to other sites.

So is Hulu chasing after penny pinching folks with basic cable/dish, likely not, they are either looking for the big spender who has cable and dish and this and that. As well as the person who wants a little more time to access their shows, or maybe they will be limiting their catalog in the future. $5 is a lot less than any cable package, and I think that streaming is a great way to start the a la carte purchase of channels and while it seems that many would disagree with me I think Hulu does offer a good service, and would be a fine way to push this into the market, however I think that will only come after any possible IPO and control being removed from the content creators.

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Lummoxx

October 22, 2010 at 4:29am

If I give back my Time Warner DVR, that's the $6/mo cable box fee PLUS the additional $12.95/mo DVR "service" fee that I no longer have to pay.

It would then be easy to give $5/mo to Hulu, even if it isn't perfect.

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michaelh

October 21, 2010 at 5:23pm

Depending upon the catalog available I'd pay $5 a month.  I haven't opted to give the beta a spin since I'm waiting for PS3 availability without having to pay for Playstation Plus.  I've ditched cable but it'd be nice to have something to fill the void alongside Netflix streaming.

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riopato

October 21, 2010 at 5:10pm

I already have basic cable with dvr so if hulu has actual cable shows like dexter then maybe $5 a month would be reasonable. If it's $5 a month for regular tv content, what's the point? Especially if everything still has intermissions in them. Even $1 a month isn't worth it if you have basic cable already.

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maximumPete

October 21, 2010 at 5:07pm

"For $9.99 per month, you'll have access to full seasons of many of your favorite shows on popular TV and mobile devices with the same limited commercial interruption you find on Hulu.com."

They talk about getting access to those commercials like it's just delightful to pay for the privilege of being marketed to. No way. Cable subscribers let this happen to their subscriptions ages ago: $200/month and we still get to watch your Axe body spray promo? The latest dead-on-arrival Geico concept? Not paying for Hulu (or Pandora, for that matter) until subscriptions pay for content and content only.

You've got them where you want them, Internet. Don't mess this up.

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someuid

October 21, 2010 at 3:21pm

Stupid, as in Hulu's management team, not you Ryan.

I was recently watching some late night Adult Swim and there was an anime I hadn't seen before (it is rare I get to stay up late to catch them so I'm not very up-to-date on what's on.)  I poked around, found the name of the anime, and went to find it on Netflix.  No go.  More poking around - the distro rights in the US belong to one of the companies that are behind Hulu, and that is the only place it can be found other than out right purchase, or on TV.

So I pop over to Hulu (haven't been there in a year+, but let's give them a second chance.)  I find the show, but a nice red warning says episodes 1-13 are no longer available.

Well, wtf.  What college degree having business fool thought that was a smart idea.

So I pop over to Netflix, log in, and add a dozen other anime shows to my watch-it-now queue, head for the TV, fire up the Roku, and forget all about that anime show and Hulu.

Hulu's management team DOESN'T GET IT and won't GET MY MONEY until they smarten up.

And I don't even think smartening up is going to help.  We're moving from cable to Dish Network this Friday, and getting DVR, and I can't really see a reason to ever visit Hulu again.  Between a DVR and Netflix, Hulu just doesn't matter.  I'm not giving them a third chance.

Hulu = fail.  Leave it as a free service or shut it down.

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lathode

October 21, 2010 at 6:51pm

Your logic is stupid. Netflix is not free. So instead of paying Hulu to watch a show, you are paying Netflix to watch a different show.

 

On another note, WTH MaxPC? You guys can't monitor the replies to these posts and delete the spam? It's not like there's a lot of responses to go through anyway.

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Walnut

October 21, 2010 at 3:55pm

I could be wrong, but the whole point of paying them a monthly fee is to get access to a larger catalog (and some other, minor features). It seems silly that your reason for disliking their subscription service has to do with some shows only being available through their subscription service.

That said, I still wouldn't even entertain the notion of paying $5/mo. Everything I use Hulu for right now is free. If that changes I'll just stop using Hulu. Their business model is pretty ridiculous. 

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