Hulu to Begin Charging for Service?

Allen Wiggs
Allen Wiggs, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Oct 22, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
On October 21st, 2009, News Corp Deputy Chairman, Chase Carey announced that Hulu, online home for many free streaming television shows and movies, would begin charging users for their services soon. The most likely system will be subscription based, with a good chance of some free content still existing. The pay model could come as early as 2010.

Now, Hulu already runs advertisements during their shows as well as before each one. What Hulu also possess, and it's greatest strength is exclusive rights to many popular shows from channels like Fox and NBC in addition to a huge back log including Married With Children, the Tick, and so much more trying to list them all would be insane. Hulu's new shows go online either a day or a week after they are aired. Currently you can find this week's episode of Heroes, last night's episode of the Jay Leno show, and much much more. To top it off, Hulu now runs complete movies, which are also interrupted by advertisements. So if you want to watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, uncut, you just have to deal with a few commercials.

Carey also told reporters, "I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value." Carey's claim that a free model is difficult to capture the value is a bit absurd, since network television has been running on this model since the inception of television. While we do now have cable television and pay per view, for shows that are freely available on network tv like Heroes or the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, why would anyone seek to pay for something they already get for free? It does remove some of the convenience of watching but it also adds an inconvenience of payment. Hulu is successful currently because it gives free television shows both new and old instantly, all you have to do is deal with a few commercials. That is a bit of a downside, but you know the creators are okay with you watching the shows this way, it's completely legal, and people are making money off their work. How people react once a payment model is put into effect is yet to be seen. But from the talk on Twitter, people are not going to be that happy to pay to watch free tv.

Source: http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/10/22/hulu-to-start-charging-in-2010/

Published by Allen Wiggs

Allen has spent years as a dreamer and decided to stop dreaming and start doing. He writes articles, short stories, and is working on a new web show that will premiere in March 2010.  View profile

8 Comments

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  • Allie2/21/2010

    Yeah, there's no way I'd pay for Hulu. I won't pay for TV in the first place, that's the reason I disconnected my cable service early last year. Why would I, when I can rent DVD's (or check them out of the library) of every show I want to watch, not to mention that there are ways of finding and streaming them on the internet. Hulu should just add more commercials. Sure, it'd be annoying, but not as annoying--and off-putting--as charging for service.

  • huluwatcher1/19/2010

    LOVE HULU..... but won't pay for the service if they decide to charge. Willing to watch commercials but not pay a subscription for the service.

  • Grunchlik11/26/2009

    I for one will expect no commercials whatsoever if I had to pay for the service...which I would not!!!

    I suspect that there will be a sharp drop in traffic the second they start this insane idea.

    I guess nothing is to last once the execs get a hold of it and see dollar signs!

    RIP hulu

  • Bill Aggie10/26/2009

    Hulu is a great service and we use it all the time. The commercial mix is (being real about this) perfect. The interruptions are not so severe as in regular tv that hulu is our first choice to watch network programming. However, if there is a fee, we will go back to our windows media center and mce buddy to let it capture all our favorite shows. It's a lot less bandwidth (none) and I can actually zap out all the commercials automatically which I will do. There are way too many commercials in network and cable broadcasters. At least with Hulu, they had me watching the commercials because it wasn't excessive. Hulu, great service but if you decide you need to charge, we'll just have to decline. ALl that you have is available for free. Think about that.

  • Nick10/23/2009

    They are taking a huge risk of losing all of the people that have been supporting it all of these years.

  • Jujubee10/23/2009

    I am in complete agreement with this article. I don't mind the commercials, because I get to watch my favorite tv shows for free. I have loved Hulu from the very beginning, but the moment they start charging me to watch something that I can see on a network website for free... I'm leaving. I'd rather pay for a DVR and cable. Hulu should think about this decision more carefully.

  • Allen Wiggs10/22/2009

    I agree, if they got rid of their commercials in exchange for a subscription it won't be that bad. I really think the current format isn't broken even remotely. TV comes with commercials, and you get it for free (you do pay for cable in general but I pay for the internet to access Hulu as well).

  • Tamara McRill10/22/2009

    If they took out the commercials and had instant access to new shows, I might consider paying. Other than that, not a chance.

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