Hulu to go commercial in May

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

But it's not as bad as I thought it would be.  The 5 most recent episodes of a given series will still be offered free and advertising will be increased, but I can like with both, especially if this means that subscribers will be able to access all the episodes of even current shows.  The one thing I don't like about this, is that it's apparently being done partly because of complaints from cable companies.  So much for competition.  Suck it up cable companies, and gain a backbone Hulu.  Of course since Hulu is owned by the channels collecting fees from the cable companies, there is a real conflict of interest here.

But I can live with the changes so far, as long as there aren't any further surprises.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/04/hulu-for-pay-subscription-service-begins-in-may-says-report.html

[MJB]

I've given up on Hulu. Loved the site and visited it often on my PS3 so I could watch movies/episodes from the comfort of my couch. Either Sony or Hulu made the site incompatible with my PS3. This plus the fact that I can't watch stuff on my iPod multiplied by more commercials and a pay service equals bye-bye Hulu for me.

[Ares_God_of_War]

Hulu is pretty much my source for television at this point but unless they really increase their offerings I wouldn't be willing to pay for it.

[Tawodi Osdi]

I'm with Ares.  I don't want to spend the money to get satellite or cable just to watch 2 or 3 channels 2 or 3 times a week.  It would be different if I were loaded and the cash was only a drop in the bucket, but I'm not.

[lugaru]

I will still go there for some of my tv and even if it got awful overnight you still can go to the actual network homepage (nbc for 30 rock, comedy for daily show) and get equal to better service.

On the other hand if they grow a massive archive of tv shows (every episode, every season) I could pay. Yeah, I'm that crazy digital guy who reads digital comics from Marvel, downloads games from steam and watches more streaming netflix than he actually watches on dvd.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Keep in mind, they said the latest 5 eps will still be watchable for free, and that's still not a bad deal.

[lugaru]

Keep in mind, they said the latest 5 eps will still be watchable for free, and that's still not a bad deal.

... which is pretty much the way things are now... and if they do two commercials per break or whatever that is still better than regular tv. I dont think anyone will abandon HULU.

You know what would blow my mind? If they get smart and pick up shows from Cinemax, Showtime and HBO. That way I could tell people "Dude, drop the $10 per month and keep paying until you finish "the wire", it is the best show ever and worth the price". And I could get into those shows that I never watched like The Sopranos.

What I need to look into is the legalise... if they are allowed to do things that Netflix cant because they are syndicating episodes rather than DVDs it will be real cool. You know, the episode is online a day after it airs and they can access stuff that has never come out on DVD.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

And the official news is out now.

http://www.hulu.com/plus

The good news is that it looks like the basic service remains unchanged.  The subscriptions adds every episode of the current season for most shows, plus some new shows and every episode for quite a few shows.

Am I going to subscribe?  No, but I don't think it's a bad deal.

What I wish they had was an option to "unlock" certain series for a lower fee.  Say $1 to unlock full plus access for one show.  That I probably would go for.  I wouldn't mind, for example playing a buck or two to watch all of x files, for example.

So what do you all think?

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, that's not nearly so bad.  Cool.

[lugaru]

I might suscribe under one of two circumstances... that they add more content I'm interested in or that I get hooked to one of the shows they offer say I decided to start watching "lost" which I maybe should that would be an easy way to do so. Netflix can be a pain sometimes, they have gaps in the "watch now" service and DVD's will come with as few as 2 episodes on them.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I'm resurrecting this thread to add that they've dropped the price to $7.99, and have just started to make hulu plus stuff visible on the regular account with the ability to watch the first few minutes of it, plus a free 1 week trial and it's own tab on the main page.

I'm thinking this is now a viable alternative to cable now, especially as the ability to see what is offered from the regular accounts shows that they are putting shows up on plus with only 1 day delay even if the free account makes you wait longer.

On top of that, the free service is the same as it always was.  In fact, new stuff keeps getting added to it just the same as before.  Over all, not a bad change at all.

[Tawodi Osdi]

$7.99 isn't bad, and I've been considering on investing in a bigger computer screen anyway.

[lugaru]

You can also hook up your computer to a TV, I have one as a main computer and one as a media center, and it is all nicely networked so I keep all my files on one machine but can pull 'em up at the media center one.

How is the premium hulu selection? Have not visited the site in a little while except to pull up videos that friends just HAD to watch, but that said I'm pretty much their target audience.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

As I said, they now show you what plus would add, with a little icon. In other words, the plus exclusive stuff shows up now in the show lists like everything else, but with a little icon.  You can watch the first few minutes, so it's easy to see what it offers, plus you can now try it for a week.

EDIT:  Here you go, found this:

http://www.hulu.com/plus#content

[BWPS]

From what I can see by looking over the list, this is extremely inferior to Netflix instant streaming which is probably the best invention ever. I have had a movie disc for like 2 months that I haven't bothered sending back and I still feel like Netflix is the most valuable thing I pay for. This doesn't have the movies and not nearly as many shows. All the shows it does have that I would watch, Netflix also has. And Veronica Mars, Futurama, MST3K, a lot of DC animated stuff, and a million other examples of best stuff ever. While I'm sure they'll have to expand their selection to compete, right now it seems like a bad idea not to spend the extra 3 bucks for like 10 times the awesome*. Just thought that might help someone who is reading this and doesn't know Netflix exists or something.

EDIT:Actually, Netflix is 7.99 for just the instant streaming stuff. I neeed to switch to that, best deal EVAR.

[Tawodi Osdi]

The problem with Netflix Instant Streaming is that it is incompatible with my operating system, but I can watch Hulu.

[lugaru]

Gotta love Netflix... already a suscriber to that and I was able to "hack" my profile at work so that I can set up movies here (althought it takes me 2 days to finish a 90 minute movie between calls and responsabilities). Still once Hulu expands a little I might consider it...