Hulu to require pay TV subscription

[AnonymouseUser]

Relevant.

Even more relevant.

 

[Bateluer]

Nice. They finally have working systems to combat piracy, and they do everything in their power to kill it and drive people right back to piracy? Idiots.

 

[KeithTalent]

cable companies should offer a service where you pay for a certain amount of channels, say 10, 20, 30 and price them that way, but allow the consumers to choose which channels they want.

So you could pick like Comedy Central, History, Cartoon Network, ESPN, SyFy, etc instead of getting 50 channels and only watching maybe 10 of them.

Yeah, I would like this. I have way too many fucking channels that I never, ever watch.

KT

 

[thegimp03]

cable companies should offer a service where you pay for a certain amount of channels, say 10, 20, 30 and price them that way, but allow the consumers to choose which channels they want.

So you could pick like Comedy Central, History, Cartoon Network, ESPN, SyFy, etc instead of getting 50 channels and only watching maybe 10 of them.

I wish they would too, but they likely never will because they're getting additional revenues from the crappy channels. The only way they change possibly is if there is a new competitor offering a la carte.

 

[BladeVenom]

Good, freebies are killing US entertainment industry...

Comcast made $4 billion net profit in 2011. Doesn't sound like they are being killed.

Consumers, choice, and a competitive marketplace however...

 

[DesiPower]

Comcast made $4 billion net profit in 2011. Doesn't sound like they are being killed.

Consumers, choice, and a competitive marketplace however...

Comcast does not produce these TV shows

 

[JackBurton]

Comcast does not produce these TV shows

You're right, when studios can afford to pay actors $1M each per episode, they are barely getting by.

 

[bearxor]

cable companies should offer a service where you pay for a certain amount of channels, say 10, 20, 30 and price them that way, but allow the consumers to choose which channels they want.

So you could pick like Comedy Central, History, Cartoon Network, ESPN, SyFy, etc instead of getting 50 channels and only watching maybe 10 of them.

Direct your idea somewhere else. Its not the cable or satellite companies holding this back.

 

[BladeVenom]

You're right, when studios can afford to pay actors $1M each per episode, they are barely getting by.

Poor Charlie Sheen only made $40 million last year.

 

[DesiPower]

You're right, when studios can afford to pay actors $1M each per episode, they are barely getting by.

That is because they want to milk what's working. They don't want invest in anything new, they don't see lucrative returns, too much risk and not enough rewards. Innovation is dying all around because of the new found American cheapness.

 

[purbeast0]

doesn't really bother me since i don't use it, but i never understood the mentality of people who think they are entitled to every tv show for free.

 

[rockyct]

doesn't really bother me since i don't use it, but i never understood the mentality of people who think they are entitled to every tv show for free.

I think most people are willing to pay to watch their shows, or at least watch commercials. Remember, the free shows on Hulu are just a few episodes of a couple network's stuff. You still watch commercials and it's only the last few episodes of a show. Hulu Plus is mostly the same except you get the whole series of a few shows instead of a few episodes. There's some other premium content like the Criterion Collection, but most of it is shit, and you still have to watch commercials.

People want their shows on their tv and portable devices, and don't want to be restricted to a schedule or absolutely horrible DVR boxes. Basically, the cable companies refuse to put any real effort into getting people want they want so everyone is now giving up on them completely and switching to Neflix or yes, pirating. By refusing to adapt, they are forcing people to move away from them.

We're willing to pay, but we're not willing to keep the status quo going for the cable companies.

 

[Lifted]

I stopped paying to watch commercial television. Channels that use to be commercial-free now have commercials, so why the hell do they still want to charge us for the channel? There is no reason to have cable TV anymore. It's a fucking scam.

 

[nanette1985]

Meh. After not having cable the last five years I find myself watching less TV anyway.

The network shows I like can be recorded OTA on my HTPC and there's lots of stuff on Netflix to watch. I don't watch Hulu much as it is so no big loss.

except that I don't like any network shows.

:thumbsup:

 

[Triumph]

how long before they completely kill over the air broadcasts, too? what if i wanted to stream tv shows from NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX? fuck hulu.

 

[fatpat268]

I'm done with cable. Live sports used to be what kept me on cable (espn), but the reality of it is, I really only watch the NFL and a small portion of college football. I can watch nearly all of my favorite team's games via antenna, except for monday night and thursday night games. If I wanted more selection, I suppose I could spring for the Sunday Ticket on the PS3 (supposedly they're lowering the price).

Also, I have absolutely no moral issues of downloading/pirating TV shows on the major broadcast networks. It's already free anyway via broadcast. Yea, someone else captured it and removed the commercials, but I'd do exactly the same thing if I were to capture it myself. For everything else, I use my netflix subscription.

Now, if only I could buy an HBO Go subscription, then I'd be completely set. Problem is, HBO is owned by TW, and there's no way in hell they'd allow you to subscribe without having a cable subscription. Fine, don't take my money.

 

[ViRGE]

A few ads do not make enough money for them

And that's really the issue at hand. A cable/sat customer is advertising + subscription money to a network (even a broadcast network since they all charge now). Hulu wasn't able to match the ad revenue of live TV - due to a lack of effective targeted advertising for internet video - never mind the fact that it also had to make up for a lack of subscriptions.

The future of TV over the internet is going to be pay per episode, e.g. iTunes. Then production companies can simply charge viewers what they'd normally get in ad revenue and subscription fees in the first place. Ad supported internet TV has failed, and AYCE will be right behind it as the price of such a service will exceed ad supported cable bills.

Nice. They finally have working systems to combat piracy, and they do everything in their power to kill it and drive people right back to piracy? Idiots.

That's the thing though, it was making things worse. Instead of bringing pirates back, it was driving more high value viewers to a lower profit system. Nothing brings the real pirates back; they have no intention of paying in the first place.

how long before they completely kill over the air broadcasts, too? what if i wanted to stream tv shows from NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX? fuck hulu.

In all likelyhood it's sooner than anyone thinks. Broadcast TV not only has additional costs that are paid by the network (the OTA broadcasting bit), but they aren't getting subscription revenue from cable/sat subscribers. Plus there's the cellular networks banging at the door; they'll pay handsomely for the frequencies if given the opportunity.

 

[halik]

Dying business model, wake me up when cable is a la carte

 

[Mr. Lennon]

I'm not a fan of the archaic cable model by any means...but fuck you guys that want free content with no ads. The money has to come from somewhere.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I'm not a fan of the archaic cable model by any means...but fuck you guys that want free content with no ads. The money has to come from somewhere.

Fuck 18 minutes of ads per hour (plus product placements) on top of monthly subscriptions. Give me fewer ads and cheaper/better delivery and they'll get something back. Until then, I'll happily torrent the two or three shows I watch regularly and not pay upwards of $100/month for the "privilege".

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Never cared for Hulu anyway. Good riddance.

Hulu annoyed me that I had to pay to watch it on my phone or tablet.

 

[drebo]

doesn't really bother me since i don't use it, but i never understood the mentality of people who think they are entitled to every tv show for free.

That has nothing to do with it. They're perfectly willing to watch commercials.

The content distributors are the ones making money off requiring TV subscriptions, not the studios. The studios would make just as much from an online streaming service as they would from Comcast et al. The problem is, they have existing agreements with Comcast et al. that won't let them stream.

I have no problem with commercials. I just don't want to pay $99/mo so I can watch Mythbusters and Top Gear America every week. And we don't even get BBC, so I can't watch Top Gear U.K. anyway.

The existing, antiquated cable TV racket needs to go away. The forced monopolies need to go away. The US Government is failing in its duty to protect consumers.

 

[AreaCode707]

I'll happily pay for the shows I watch, be that per episode or per show season. I will not pay for a full channel I watch 5% of, or a host of channels I never watch at all. I'm fine with commercials in my viewing.

I've been cable-free for more than 10 years. I'm exactly the subscriber Hulu wants to charge and I'm happy to pay... but I'm not buying cable in order to keep my Hulu access.

 

[PliotronX]

Fantastic. The only reason Hulu was useful was its lack of subscriptions. Back to leeching.

 

[Newbian]

Only going to kill off hulu even faster now.