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The End of Free Hulu
According to Entertainment Weekly, the popular online video website Hulu is likely to begin charging for its services as early as 2010, as announced by News Corporation Deputy Chairman Chase Carey. Carey asserted that “a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content” and that Hulu “needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”
Hulu.com has been distributing videos (including TV shows and B movies) from various networks since March 2008 free of charge, using advertisements for products ranging from Halo 3: ODST to Pop Tarts to generate revenue.
Hulu’s increasing popularity and the cultural shift which has come with it are the most likely the reason behind the decision to charge users. As viewers have become more accustomed to using their computer as an analogue for their television, one wonders whether Hulu stands to lose its popularity with the introduction of subscription fees. Hulu is free, slick, and legal, but it’s hard to believe that free isn’t the most salient feature to many of its users. Once Hulu is no longer free, people will most likely turn to watching their streamed TV shows on low-quality, illegal websites.
CMCers, as well as other college students, are likely to be affected the most because as it is now the price is right, the quality is good and most importantly, we don’t have to interrupt our busy schedules to view our favorite shows; instead, Hulu users are free to watch TV based on their own schedule instead of TV Guide’s. Perhaps if Hulu survives its decision to charge users, it will introduce more TV shows and movies than are currently offered. But that’s a big “if.”
6 Comments
2009-11-08
12:14:54
LAME
2009-11-08
12:33:30
Whatever. Before we start spouting about the free internet apocalypse, has anyone noticed that HULU has commercials in all of their content. A subscription option could simply eliminate commercials by passing the per-view cost of advertising on to the users. You'd have to be incredibly naive to believe that a company as smart as Hulu would ever walk away on the model that has made them so successful.
2009-11-08
13:12:26
The FBM is right. Although Hulu is going to start charging for some content in 2010, they aren't going to abandon the free model. After the original article was published, EW published an article clarifying this.
It is still worrying since Hulu has been removing a lot of their content recently (What happened to all the Arrested Development?), but we still have a couple years of free Hulu ahead of us.
2009-11-08
16:51:37
The best site is clearly Ninjavideo.net.
Not that I would ever violate copyright or anything, but it is seriously amazing.
2009-11-08
23:23:07
As Kimberly M. said, this rumor was thankfully debunked: http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/10/29/hulu-free/ . I wonder what sorts of "premium" content they'll introduce!
2009-11-13
16:48:00
This is the kind of journalism that could only come from a former Pelican editor. You make me proud Vicky!