Hometown Hollywood

Hulu Announces Plans To Charge For Subscription To Website

Posted on 27. Oct, 2009 by CSS in Entertainment, TV

This is disappointing for sure.

Hulu has announced that they will start charging for a subscription starting as soon as 2010. Hulu is a website that offers commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC and many other networks and studios.

I’m curious how this new paid-subscription will impact my ability to embed television clips from there site. To me, this move seems greedy- the web giant already makes a substantial earnings from all of its paid advertising they interject between streaming shows. The beauty about Hulu was that there was nothing of its quality on the internet when it launched- I believe by moving to a paid version they are giving more room for another company to move in and give us what we want for free. There are already plenty of sites out there that offer free TV; Fancast & SurfTheChannel immediately come to mind.

Here is the report EW ran on the matter:

At an industry summit in NYC on Oct. 21, News Corp Deputy Chairman Chase Carey revealed that online video hub Hulu will begin charging users for content as soon as 2010, according to Broadcasting and Cable. Carey told reporters that a subscription system is likely, although some content will probably continue to be offered free of charge. “I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” he said.

When Hulu makes the switch to a paid-service I’m going to tell them to go kick rocks, there is no way I will pay them to see programming I can find elsewhere on the internet for free! This is a terrible business move for Hulu-they are overestimating their hold on the market.

Tags: Chase Carey