Hulu May Begin Charging For Content Next Year

DJLuc1d tips news that Chase Carey, president and COO of News Corp., has said that Hulu may begin charging for its streamed video content as early as next year. He said at a recent conference that the free-to-air model is not sustainable in the long-term. The Atlantic takes a look at several business models Hulu could employ and wonders how their current advertising system would be involved.

Comments

Re:Maybe it would work..

[DJRumpy]

What media center hacks? I use it on my HTPC. It works as well as any other media player/center. Just download the Hulu Desktop app (OS X/Windows/Linux) Just launch it and go. I wonder if those folks realize exactly how easy it is to watch this stuff on a TV? I would actually consider canceling cable if they had just a bit more content that was good.

They should ditch the youtube 'clips' and stick to full TV shows and movies. They could also jettison a lot of IMO, useless content. Get some good deals with content providers with exclusive 15, 30, and 60 second commercials if you need to.

It's a good service, but it does need more polish.

Re:Depends on what they mean by charging...

[pegasustonans]

HBO has proven people are happy to pay for *quality* programming.

What you say is totally correct, with the one minor detail that I would change *quality* to *softcore porn*.

Re:time to update headline

[SoonerPet]

Exactly, the only reason I ever watched hulu was because it was free. The minute it goes to a pay site I'll be back to torrenting everything. It's really their loss, not mine.

Re:I'm not paying a subscription fee.

[DarkOx]

Honestly their commercials are not that bad. Five breaks with a single 30 second spot in a 40min program is not nearly as bad as those same five breaks with 20min worth of crap inserted. The problem is the selection. I quit paying for cable because the selection for on demand was awful; Hulu has way more; and its not enough.

I would pay for Hulu before I would ever pay for cable again. The trick is not charging to much for Hulu. I probably only want to watch five or six hours a week at the most. Three TV shows and movie maybe a second movie some weekends if the weather is nasty and my friends don't want to do anything. Of the shows I am likely watching at any given time two of the three are probably network and available free already. Hulu might command ten or fifteen dollars a month if they make the right content available and keep the commercials to the current level or less. There is not way I'd pay more, like cable I would do without.