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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
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.
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/
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.
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.
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
GNU hasn't got a damn thing to do with it. GNU is just some crap userland tools which are trivially easy to replace with something else. The important part is X11/Linux.
The reason RMS insists on sticking GNU in the name is pure self-promotion, and he's a shameless blowhard.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
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 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.