Am I missing something? This sounds like another Geitner move!

Submitted by Elucidate on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 6:25pm

No doubt Hulu is a business, and a very good one at this point. And I suspect they make a good margin, hence them getting bought (my surmise given this article), and News Corp salivating on squeezing more out of a profitable product. Yay for capitalism (seriously). But like others here have posted, it will first be some small amount, then less for more, and even less for more (or more for more...crap).

What I find equally puzzling is the train wreck the internet is headed with all the ISP providers capping bandwidth. If Hulu doesn't start charging for premium content now, they'll miss the boat when ISP's across the board start charging indiscriminately and their product becomes even more expensive with the double whammy. And let's not forget the Dem's internet tax that is ultimately coming. Enough integrated politics--please! (Did I just coin a phrase?)

The only reason I'm not a cord cutter is because I can't get local news nor any of the cable news near-realtime via internet. Or I'd drop the extortionist Comcast. Why not allow people to pay $1 per channel per month. Similarly, I'd be game with Hulu charging $1/mo per category. If I could get these categories: news, home (e.g food network), earth sciences (National Geo, History, etc.), ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox, TNT/USA/Sci/TBS, each for a buck I'd do it. BUT I don't want the we'll charge you more and give you more---crap that is!

In the end, News Corps will make Hulu charge what they think the market will bare. If they sink, someone else will take their place-- and News Corp will have drained the life from Hulu. That is if Obama doesn't expand his Fairness Doctrine to streaming media content too!

I can't help it one more diatribe. 15 Czar's and counting by Obama? What is the Cabinet for? Seems pretty obvious to me that by hiring Czar's that are not accountable to anyone but Obama. He has made his Cabinet paper tigers. I think particular attention should focus on this...where is the vetting? Where are the checks and balances?

If you liked the Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, you'll love the Endless Universe- Beyond the big bang theory by Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok.

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Eh, if it's going to change

Submitted by I Jedi on Fri, 06/05/2009 - 2:41pm

Eh, if it's going to change to "premium" content, then they'd best expand their network because I'm not paying $5 dollars a month and up for a few good shows every now and then. Especially when I can watch these shows on T.V. Oh, and there best not be any god damned commercials for paid subscription based users...

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I Will Pay IF They Offer The Following

Submitted by Caskey.100 on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 7:42pm

LIVE TV!!! Tv.com was able to do it during the NCAA March Madness Tourney so Hulu should be able to do it. By doing this they go straight for TV's jugular. By offering live news Like CNN, MSNBC, and other "local" stations they can really hit a large market of people. From there you could use Hulu Desktop to record these live events for you to watch at your own leisure. By doing this Hulu woul ultimately bring TV to the internet full time. I really hope that this an idea that they are following they could make a truckload and become the google of video very quickly.

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Nothing new for Fox

Submitted by Skiplives on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 4:52pm

They don't believe in giving anything away for free, so I'm not surprised.  My guess is that paid subsriptions would get you all of the current season and newer seasons not currently available on Hulu.  The rationale for them not being available is that they'll canabalize DVD sales.

 The problem with that thought (IMHO) is that the people that buy seasons want to own the media and that Hulu is a streaming site with commercials.  I doubt you'd see big differences in dvd sales if you offered all the episodes all the time. Plus they miss out on the ad revenue for people that want to see a missed episode.  Wishing Bit Torrent doesn't exist isn't going to make it go away.  

 Heree's to hoping they figure it out eventually. 

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Pay to skip commercials

Submitted by ferds7 on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 1:13pm

Pay to skip commercials seems like a logical business move. Their commercials aren't all that bad in my honest opinion, still much less than regular tv. I think before they want to start charging though they need to increase the value of their content. Old movies and re-runs of tv episodes for people who don't record the shows they miss will not cut it.

Services like Hulu and Netflix are the best way to prevent piracy. If the cost of using the service becomes unbalanced with the quality of the service it leads to piracy. Simple economics. 

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I can understand folks

Submitted by Tekzel on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 11:57am

I can understand folks reaction. I hate commercials with a passion and use 2 tivos at home just so I don't have to subject myself to the annoying over exposure that television is.  However, businesses are in business for 1 reason and 1 reason ONLY.  To make money for their owners/shareholders.  Period.  The key is to do it in a way that doesn't piss off their customers.  I can understand that they want to monetize Hulu, I refuse to use the service because of the unskippable commercials.  IF, the price is reasonable, and the content is compelling AND I can get it without commercials, I may be interested in a subscription. Maybe.  I would have to see what it looks like.

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Hulu is already going downhill

Submitted by quickone on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 11:17am

It is already starting to suck.  It used to be only one or two
commercials, now there are almost as many as watching regular TV.  Once
something is used to make money it starts to suck.  Facebook was great
when it was intended to connect people 4 or 5 years ago, now it is to
make money through connecting people. 

 

You can watch TV
for free over the air with commercials, but it is illegal to download
and watch without commercials.  What is the real purpose of TV?  To
give us just enough programming to get us to watch commercials, same with radio...

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"According to AOL's Daily

Submitted by comptech08 on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 9:00am

"According to AOL's Daily Finance website, Miller said he sees Hulu making at least some of its content available only to paid subscribers. At the same time, he was also quick to clarify that he won't attend his first Hulu board meeting until next week, meaning his speculation doesn't necessarily reflect that of Hulu's."

 

AOL SUX.  I can't believe they are still in business.  AOL guy on Hulu's board? wow hulu is gonna start sucking sometime soon. 

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I have a distinct feeling

Submitted by compro01 on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 8:58am

I have a distinct feeling this guy may have skipped Understanding Your Target Market 101.

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Time for the new X

Submitted by DOOMHAMMA on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 8:44am

If it went subscription for the good stuff, then they're going to see see an enormous loss in viewers, and an increase in torrent use for the same programs.Torrents that don't insert commercials into the middle of the show/movie, and bring no revenue to the owners.

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Fine! It's not like I'm in

Submitted by GFC on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 8:26am

Fine! It's not like I'm in the US anyway.. xD

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