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Hulu "Kicking Back Into Action" Says CEO, Adding New Content
cagraham writes "While rival Netflix dominated the news this summer with original programming and content deals, the only news from Hulu was a July announcement that they might be sold off. Parent companies Disney, 21st Century Fox, and Comcast seem to have decided against that now, and acting CEO Andy Forssell says they're 'kicking back into action.' The main take is that they've signed an agreement with the BBC to add show like Sherlock, MI-5, and Doctor Who, although the deal isn't exclusive, and the shows are already on other streaming services."
Hulu can rot in hell.
I am so tired of seeing "not supported in your region" messages from US companies.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
They were probably hoping that they could diminish netflix (esp comcast) since they would all prefer pay per (every) view or non ala-carte bundles rather than a 'watch whatever you want for a low flat fee'
Netflix is one of the things that is helping keep the Media cartels at bay at this point and I am happy to have been a subscriber for the past 10 years or so and hope that Comcast/ATT get their comeuppance some day (but doubt it due to regulatory capture)
-I'm just sayin'
Seriously.
Why has nobody made a service that even comes close to piracy? 3 clicks. type one word. wait 10 minutes and i have a full movie i can watch on any device anytime i want. using any player i want. no connection needed after dl.
Nobody has even tried to compete with that level of convenience. I'd pay a couple bucks an episode or $5 a movie for that fast and that easy to use.
but nope. there is no legal way to do that.
that's just fucking stupid. you'd rake in BILLIONS.
Hulu.com is doomed in its current incarnation.
Exclusivity was the game 5 years ago, before Netflix sort of cornered the market w/ userbase & began its successful 'original programming' venture.
Getting BBC 'content' that is already available on competitors, fee or not, is kind of sad, really.
Maybe Dr. Who is a big 'get' (look IMHO its shit scifi, but i don't know what people like)...maybe it'll boost 'clicks' by 20%...that's just polishing the brass on the titanic
the 'profit model' iceberg sunk Hulu.com a long time ago...we're just watching it play out now...
**if** the copyright holders decided to just dump their content onto hulu exclusively for free...that would change things, but that's virtually impossible
my prediction: hulu.com dies a slow sad death and gets bought by some Mark Cuban type for $1.2 Million in 5 years who uses it for MMA fights or something
Thank you Dave Raggett
I have a Google TV and it would not let me watch Hulu on it without paying for Hulu plus. Considering they have nowhere near the catalog that Netflix does, I really don't see them as a serious competitor. They might have been able to get me to watch a commercial or two considering their small catalog, but they didn't want that either.
For $6/mo you still have to watch ads, and the only real benefit you get is that you can watch a new episode of certain shows a couple days before the non-paying members.
On top of that, when we watch using the Wii, the interface is quite clunky. I'm not sure if they're doing a similar thing as Netflix where they have all these dozens of wrappers for different devices, but I can only assume they are to some extent. I'm sure Hulu on other devices is equally painful (though, on a computer it's actually quite well-done).
Netflix is just a way better value and it works better. I'm all for Hulu "stepping it up", but I'll believe it when I see it.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
Too little, too late. Netflix ate their lunch while they were too busy putting out a half-assed, inferior service. But hey, with names like Disney, Fox, and Comcast, maybe they can litigate their competition away.
Hulu's options:
1. I watch shows which have ads.
2. I pay them money, and they still show me ads.
I am really not seeing the attraction of option #2.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
It's crazy to fault Hulu for having a free service. They're getting money from those 1 million Plus subscribers, AND the ads they're forced to watch. They're also getting money from ad viewing of many millions of others who are not paying, which Netflix/Amazon can't claim.
IMHO, Hulu Plus is too expensive for what you get... the same price as Netflix, for less value. They could increase their subscriber count by just lowering the price to something reasonable. Or they could just do a better job monetizing their huge hordes of free viewers.
I'd expect better treatment of Hulu around here... Its service works quite well on Linux. Netflix doesn't. If you can find a copy of the discontinued HuluDesktop for Linux (or Windows) you can even get their content wrapped in a nice 10ft interface that works well navigating with remotes (and has LIRC support).
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Hulu has been on a downward slide for a few years, no doubt. But I'll say that their two original series this summer, The Awesomes and Quick Draw, have been absolutely spectacular. The Awesomes is a lot of SNL people (Seth Meyers, etc.) with a love-letter spoof to animated superheroes. Quick Draw is improv Western-crime-procedure-comedy, and is the best TV show I've seen in years; I've been laughing at it after the fact all week. Try them out if you can. (I'm crossing my fingers for another season of Quick Draw, it's a real gem.)
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
When they first came out, I was impressed. They were streaming programs and trying honestly to generate revenue. Instead of cramming ads down my throat, they tried to show them in innovative ways, as a sort of compromise to the ad-weary consumer. They would show two cars and let me pick an ad to watch. They would ask if I wanted to view all commercials first so I could watch the show uninterrupted.
And the commercials were short. I was optimistic about the way things were headed. I understand the need to make money. Hulu seemed to be sensitive to their audience.
Then, Hulu Plus came along. They basically said.. "Some of that free content is no longer free. You have to pay for it now. But, you still have to watch commercials". With that, I ceased all interaction with Hulu. About a year later, I decided that paying for some streaming content would be worthwhile, if I could watch it on my terms. I now gladly give Netflix my money for that. So long as they don't charge me twice by also showing ads, I will stick with them.
The bar has been set by piracy. If you want to be successful you must beat piracy. The key attributes of piracy are: Worldwide release, no commercials, no FBI WARNING screens, doesn't promote crap that people don't want to watch but you want them to see, doesn't charge too much, simple interfaces, doesn't upsell upsell upsell, doesn't try to extract continuous marketing information, doesn't use your product to try and support your 20th century business model, make it as easy for me to use your product (basically make it available on every conceivable device).
Netflix basically matches or beats nearly every one of these attributes. Hulu does not.
When they first came out I wanted to support them, but I'm in Canada - geoblocked. Strike 1. A year or two later I finally got a VPN, stopped my satellite subscription, modded my ATV2 and started watching. Shortly thereafter most of the content creators pulled their content from Hulu to try and create their own empires. Most of the shows I WOULD watch got pulled and placed onto their crappy services. Strike 2. In this digital age I want to watch what I want, when I want, and I don't want the limitation of having to try to remember to squeeze in that episode of X before the show expires on Hulu. I missed the season finale of Grimm by 3-4 days because of this expiration model for the show. Strike 3. Netflix, you get my money. Hulu/NBC etc... you don't, and I still watch the stuff that could have been on your site making you revenue, but I do it through other sources.
Who you call'in pirate?
The folks chok'in the content or the folks allowing anyone to get it?
In other words:
Arrrrr matey, if ya wanna pass 'er, ya gonna ave to pay yer toll! Arrr...... Arrrr. And if ye lose yer content, ya gotta pay again! Arrr... And if I change the medium, ya gotta pay again! Arrrrr... And I i decide to change the terms, ya gotta pay again! Arrrrrrr.... Yours, Long John Disney.
As apposed to:
Login,. download from a server where this person who PAID for the content and more than likely isn't using it.
You know, I got a shit load of DVDs and CDs that are collecting dust. Whats the fucking difference if I lend them out ( or give them away) or just allow some folks to download them
Multiple copies?
Well, my bandwidth sucks for being Netflix lite. I can do much more damage by giving away my disks.
Just say'in.
All these streaming services suck ass. Netflix u.s sucks major balls, we get nothing but repeated old shit over and over again. I used an unblocker for chrome and got to see what Canada, Britain, Denmark netflix all have compared to U.S, guess what, better quality movies even though they have less selection. But, this is quality over u.s netflix quantity crap. Nothing to do with licensing, netflix claimed their u.s movie selection is based on customer demand, yeah like we like shitty, unheard of, b movies.
DVD's and bluerays are still relative.
Competition in this space is good... but since I already have a Netflix account and Amazon Prime, I really don't want to see anything decent signed exclusively to Hulu. I especially don't want to see the owners of Hulu (content producers) make it their exclusive provider. That's using one monopoly (copyright, a government granted monopoly) in one market to try to move into another market, and should be illegal.
Plus, and I know this is hearsay, but just a few days ago someone on slashdot was complaining that they had a Hulu account in their real name, and then they discovered that all the shows they watched were searchable online. Uh, no thanks. Even if that's not true now, if that was ever true they can screw off. (If it was never true, I got trolled, sorry.)
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
As a for-pay service that displays ads, Hulu can rot in hell.
I live in the US, but there's no way I'll use it unless they remove the ads.
If they would drop ads from the paid version perhaps I might show interest. But since I know that won't happen... what were we talking about again?
can I have my money back for that time?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Hulu is a scam. They still refuse to provide services advertised ...
I want to see them resurrect Hulu Desktop and update it on all platforms. Hulu supported Linux, so I think maybe some of the folks on here might want to cut them some slack. Unfortunately, the most recent builds crash when going into full screen on recent releases of Ubuntu.
I have to laugh at complaining about devices...
"The Wii UI is clunky"
"It doesn't work with the Roku"
"It doesn't work with the XBox"
Has it occurred to you that it's your choice of device that's wrong? You buy a device for the content it can display; you don't subscribe to a content service because of the devices which decide whether or not to support it. It's be trivial to fix the 3 above listed issues, BUT the people who should be fixing them are the device vendors, not the content sites. Aren't you the same people who complain when Microsoft fails to support some aspect of HTML5 in IE, rather than complaining to the HTML5 web sites that they aren't supporting IE?
Does your laptop have HDMI, DVI-D, or VGA out? Does your HDTV have HDMI or VGA in? If so, you can use your laptop as your home theater PC. The only people missing out are those who have only a single desktop PC in a separate room.
Can you watch Netflix streaming videos on your Linux systems?
Linux yes, GNU/Linux no. Netflix works on Android, which is Linux but not GNU/Linux. There's a reason RMS has insisted on the distinction.
Netflix is awesome but it doesn't carry current network content. Hulu does for the most part (with CBS being a big exception).
I know most (all?) of this content is available online but I can't bring myself to go back to being tied to a schedule. The online content is often here today and gone tomorrow. Also, I really like all my content delivered by a box that's hooked directly to my TV.
As for the BBC stuff... (yawn). I can see all of it on Netflix without the commercials. If this cost Hulu any $$ I think someone saw them coming. Come to think of it, this brings up a question I never thought to ask: Is there anyone out there who subscribes to Hulu without subscribing to Netflix?
Cheers,
Bruce.
Bruce A. Knack
Silicon Surfers
yeah I do occasionally hit up hulu.com when Daily Show and Colbert new episodes don't update on Comedy Central fast enough...usually they post the new episodes just after 12pm Pacific but sometimes it doesn't cycle through till later
Also, I'll choose hulu.com over some network's free airing (like when I watch New Girl) b/c Hulu.com's players is actually pretty smooth
so I have *used* hulu.com but only as a sort of 'hack' to get better quality of something that was already available elsewhere...
my goto for tv on the web is www.free-tv-video-online.me
Project Free TV rarely lets me down :P
Thank you Dave Raggett
Sorry. But until Hulu can offer a subscription service WITHOUT ads, and that allows place-marking, I won't be supporting them.
Netflix remembers where I am in a flick. So if I stop watching and come back to it later, it picks right up where I left off.
Amazon Prime does the same thing.
Hulu? I have to drag to the approximate spot. Then suffer through all the interstitial commercials. Even if I'm paying them money.
People pay for convenience. And Hulu just isn't convenient.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Hulu is also available in Japan.
it is NOT gonna be one that has commercials! I can see free (to the consumer) streaming video services being ad supported. But I am NOT gonna pay for any ad supported service. If I am paying for the service it needs to be ad-free! Don't even get me started on cable TV and their vastly overpriced, ad-infested crap!
The last thing we need is for streaming services to become TV channels themself where you have to subscribe to many if you want to see the show you like.
Hulu may work fine in Canada for all I know, but basically I wanted to respond to the bitching about it being a US only service. There is an actual reason for this and it has nothing to do with "America hates your country" or "America is stupid". Foreign rights to American TV shows bring in a lot of money and basically Hulu only works for US viewers because somebody may have bought the rights to the TV show in your country and the deal prevents Hulu from letting you watch it because doing so makes you less inclined to watch on TV, where the rights were paid for. Since the foreign rights buyers might argue next time they need to pay less because Hulu is cutting into their viewers, the only way to protect the revenue streams is to do a "US only" policy for Hulu. Additionally there is some chance that actors, writers, etc. might have to get cut in for additional money if too many new distribution methods are found, so it's just makes it easier on everybody in the US side to have those restrictions.
This is my stance on it, and has been. I've heard the argument that paying allows them to show less commercials, but I don't buy it. I'm certain they make a profit before ad partnerships.
and all I get is sorry the page is to big to load.
Hey blackberry when it came time to buy another I said sorry it was to big a load of shit.
Yes it does, but no it does not.
I am a Hulu+ subscriber and lat night I tried to watch season 10 of Top Chef (yeah yeah I know) on my XBox360.
Sorry, web only.
Why web only? I am already going to sit through 5 ads spanning a 1+ min plus? Really, I need to watch this on my tablet/laptop/homepc?
Da fuk?
I have been watching Hulu Plus more and more lately due to the fact that they provide more worldwide TV dramas than Netflix, to whom I have been a long-term subscriber. Movies, Netflix; serials Hulu Plus. Binge watching is rapidly becoming the new normal.
The largest problem is that Hulu+ has a difficult value proposition to OTA.
I'm currently subscribed to H+ because we took advantage of a 2-month trial, but I'm going to cancle before we start getting charged. The trial was nice to get caught up on some shows that Netflix is missing the latest season of (e.g. Bones), but now that we're caught up, we're just going to use Myth to record & watch when we want to. There are a few programs we like to watch that aren't OTA (mostly Psych), but the main networks really produce the majority of shows that we watch. Netflix has been pretty convenient for back catalogue shows and movies, but we may drop their streaming service & convert over to eBay and physically sharing discs with people if they begin harassing us with commercials.
Disney, NBCUniversal, and Fox doesn't produce all programming aired on ABC, NBC, and Fox channels. A lot of video is licensed from third parties, and these third parties may have signed long-term exclusive deals with companies other than these to stream their works outside the United States.