I used to use Hulu liberally. When they started testing the waters with paid-content, I questioned if they needed my business and when they started shelving older episodes of TV series that used to be free, for paid access, that helped me focus on any other outlet, where possible, other than Hulu. It helped me become more proactive about making sure I watched my favorite TV shows episodes in a timely fashion.
Where Hulu once baited me with free content, they now slap my hand with fees for wanting the same stuff I became accustomed to before. That’s fine. There are other venues and I don’t need to pay for TV content that I truly already paid for via my cable / internet bill.
Now if the population on the internet actually behaved like I did, Hulu would get the message and return to their old ways. Alas, web surfer, in the millions, prove time and time again that even though it seems like pennies a day, that they are willing to put up with ads in online streaming content, or pay for access to certain things. Thus, my battle seems a bit futile, though as some may know, futility never deterred me.
But now it seems that Hulu and Facebook are looking at a collaboration / integration where people can start sharing with their Facebook friends what it is they’re watching on Hulu. This is no real surprise, considering that Facebook is looking to rent you movies.
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Did I just say Hulu Cable?
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Way back when I first mentioned that Hulu was going to start charging for some content, I knew there was a reason and I didn’t think the consumer’s wallet would benefit from it. Right now the reported infighting at Hulu is between corporate owners Walt Disney, News Corp. and NBC Universal and has to do with if they want to refocus their corporate mission and become on online version of a cable operator.
This new Hulu Cable model would offer live TV channels and VOD. (Video on Demand)
The infighting is reportedly about how their free content is eating into their profits. Disney and News Corp (Fox) are considering reducing the amount of free content on Hulu. I mean they’ve already pulled (or been booted) their content from Comcast‘s ‘On Demand’ services and you can no longer find their products under the free TV Show section. So this comes as no surprise.
While the infighting was going on, the CEO of Hulu, Jason Kilar, threatened to quit if the agreed upon ‘Hulu Plus’ subscription was going to be $10. FYI: Hulu is supposedly valued at around $2 billion.
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The waning hours of the contract between Fox (Parent company News Corp) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) is upon us.
Fox and Time Warner are locked in a legal battle about contractual renewal fees. Fox wants more while Time Warner is trying to keep costs down for customers. At least that’s what they say.
But some TWC customers may have noticed some ads on Fox that portray Time Warner in an evil light, perse, because they aren’t settling with Fox.
But what’s at the core of this spat? Retransmission fees. Despite the fact that networks haven’t ever charged cable companies for this fee, they are now as their ad revenue has taken a hit in the economy. Fox reportedly is asking for $1 per cable customer per week, while other networks are asking 50 cents per customer. Fox is counter-offering 30 cents per.
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It’s being reported that the Charlotte-area cable provider Time Warner might not be showing showing Speed, FX and a few other channels.
It seems this little situation is about money and if their resolution doesn’t resolve itself, these and other channels could go dark come January 1st. It’s January 1st because their contract comes to a close on December 31st.
In some markets in the region, this could possibly also extend to the main channel from Fox that airas Glee, House M.D. and American Idol. (Oh my… that could lead to American Riots if Idol is capped.)
Know Who To Be Mad At:
The dark channels will be a result of News Corp (Fox parent company) pulling the channels because they’re asking for more money while Time Warner is digging in and trying to save the consumer price rate increases.
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On Friday, Claire Atkinson from the site Broadcasting & Cable, reported that News Corp Dep. Chairman Chase Carey made statements saying that they have to start getting paid for the broadcast content that is now available online.
In the statement, he also said that Hulu concurs with this perspective, that they need to evolve into a meaningful subscription model. In other words, Hulu to charge for content.
“Carey says that while throwing up a pay-wall around all content is not the answer, it doesn’t mean there wont be fees for some specially-created content and TV previews.”
The internet kind of went into an uproar about this. Of the various websites I came across reporting it, no one was happy about it and vowed to move on to some other source of free content.
But it seems to be a case of News Corp putting the apples before the cart and before the horse!
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