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Hulu Plus Now Available To All — But Be Warned

Posted by Soulskill on from the plus-or-minus dept.

itwbennett writes "Peter Smith outlines some of the things you need to know before plunking down your $10 subscription fee for Hulu Plus, which yesterday came out of its invitation-only phase and is now open to everyone. First off, don't assume that paying $10 gets you out of viewing ads like it does on Netflix — and there's no way to skip them. Second, yes, there's tons of content available on Hulu Plus, but it's not necessarily the same content as hulu.com. 'So if you've been watching a show on hulu.com and can't wait to watch it on the big screen via your PS3, stop a moment and check the Hulu Plus listings,' advises Smith. And then there's the issue of performance, which at least in the preview version has been less than perfect."

9 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. All? by meza · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is the definition of all here? Does it for instance include Europe or anything outside of the US? Before we haven't been able to watch anything on Hulu.

    1. Re:All? by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ah, so much like the definition of "world" when the US talks about the "World Series".

      All generally does imply everyone. "All in the US" has a different meaning, because it adds specificity.

      The summary doesn't specify one way or the other, and having not researched Hulu Plus fully, I didn't actually know if "All" meant "the world" or not - they have been showing me "we are trying to bring content to your region, please be patient with us" messages every time I see an embedded player on a webpage that tries to show me a Hulu video in the UK. For all I know, that's what Hulu Plus is about. I guess not.

    2. Re:All? by SirWhoopass · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ummm... no.

      World series origin

  2. Hulu +/- by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    So if it adds some content to Just Plain Hulu, but meanwhile doesn't include all of the content from Just Plain Hulu, wouldn't that it make it "Hulu Plus Or Minus"?

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. Re:Sounds....great?? by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People will pay or watch commercials, but not both. They learned their lessons from the move to cable TV.

    Except that they still pay for cable TV and they still watch commercials on it. If anyone's learned a lesson from the move to cable TV it's the networks learning that people will do both.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  4. Because we live in Amerika. by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why do you guys want to pay for this?

    Because we live in Amerika, where politicians are bought and paid for by the big media companies. Unlike European countries (yeah, I am making a gross generalization here) where your politicians at least make an half-hearted attempt to protect your rights. Ours sold them at firesale prices to the content companies. So we're to either pay up or face insane fines and/or jail terms.

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    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
  5. Re:Sounds....great?? by irondonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except that they still pay for cable TV and they still watch commercials on it. If anyone's learned a lesson from the move to cable TV it's the networks learning that people will do both.

    My DVR says hi.

  6. Re:Sounds....great?? by MoonBuggy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're paying the ISP to transfer the data, Hulu is providing the content which is supported by the ads. If you're paying the ISP for data, and paying Hulu for the content, then having to watch the ads seem to be a pretty poor deal.

  7. They are paying to have cable by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People understand the idea of paying to get a service. You pay the cable company to get cable TV. For that you are a stupendous amount of channels that they deliver. However the programs themselves are separate, those require ads. Fine. When you buy an addon though, that is no ads. So you buy HBO. Those channels cost extra. Fine, you are paying to have no ads. It is a cost separate from the service.

    Well now things are on the Internet. Again, people are ok with paying for the Internet. You pay the cable company, they give you Internet. Wonderful. However the content on the Internet is different, some of it has ads. Also fine. Then you have some pay for services on the Internet, like Netflix. Costs money, instead of ads. Also good.

    This falls in the new category of "You have to pay for it on top of your service AND get ads." I don't think it is going to fly, particularly not given that there are alternatives. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.