Hulu To Require Viewers To Have Cable Subscriptions

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 30, 2012 @09:19AM from the nice-knowing-you dept.

The NY Post reports that Hulu, the video streaming service with over 30 million users, has plans to force those users to prove they have a subscription to cable or satellite TV if they want to keep watching. Quoting: "The move toward authentication is fueled by cable companies and networks looking to protect and profit from their content. The effort comes as entertainment companies continue to face drastic shifts in home viewing habits. Overall spending on home entertainment edged up 2.5 percent to $4.45 billion in the first quarter as a surge in digital streaming — which rose more than fivefold to $549 million — offset a continuing collapse in video rentals, according to Digital Entertainment Group. ... Hulu racked up some $420 million in ad revenue last year and is expected to do well in this year’s ad negotiations. But the move toward authentication, which could take years to complete, will make cable companies happy because it could slow cord-cutting by making cable subscribing more attractive."

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Two Other words by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-30 10:27 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Antitrust violation.
You can't bundle services in this manner without it being an antitrust violation. Requiring a cable or satellite subscription to get HBO makes sense as the network is shown over cable or satellite, but requiring one to stream content over the internet doesn't make any sense. I suspect that the reason it's going to take years is that they're hoping to roll it out when a Republican is in the Whitehouse so that the DoJ isn't enforcing antitrust regulations.