Newer stuff will still be free under this idea
Interesting, but I find Hulu has too many problems for me. I don’t mind these minor issues since it’s free, but if I pay for something, no matter how cheap it is, I don’t want issues.
They did a survey last year in the UK where they made a ton of music files available online for people to listen to. You couldn’t do anything with these files but listen to them on your computer or you could route the files through your home stereo system but you couldn’t download them.
And it did seem to work, around 90% reported they stopped downloading music files. As long as they could access the files and listen to them online they didn’t care to download them.
I see a similar problem here. People watch Hulu 'cause it’s free. You have to have a fast Internet connection to use it. If you have to pay, people will just go back to using torrents.
The only problem I’ve had with Hulu is that occasionally it tries to display an ad but fails.
Oh wait, that isn’t a problem.
I know this wasn’t your point, but I want to add that every MP3 player I’ve seen lately seems to come with programs that will download download streaming video and audio. It’s virtually impossible to block right now, as you effectively use your own speaker output as input.
Okay, so now that I’ve looked at the article: they’re picking the wrong shows to try and make me pay for. I feel no obligation to pay for a show that is freely broadcast over the air. I don’t understand why they think people would buy stuff they can get for free, especially legally.
I have to admit, I’m inclined to wonder why bother charging if it’s only $5 a month.
That said, I can imagine charging such a fee would cut down on traffic and thus solve other problems.
We’ll see–it’s not like I use Hulu much.
OH, LORDY!! THOSE GREEDY CORPRATE BASTARDS!! :rolleyes:
Seriously, I remember a few months ago people getting all up in arms over them charging.
$5 is a more than fair price for their service. It sure beats going out and buying a Tivo and paying their monthly service.
At least it does for me as I have my computer routed to both my regular sized moniter and my 32" flat screen.
It may be a fair price, but I will not be paying it. Not when it’s so easy to find elsewhere.
I like Hulu. I don’t mind watching the ads. I even click to offer my opinion most of the time. They should offer a free version for those who are willing to click.
Of course I generally watch a new episode as soon as it comes out so my opinion doesn’t matter much in this case.
I’d be willing to pay $5 a month for Hulu under the following conditions:
-
If I’m paying, there had better not be any ads of any kind anywhere on the site.
-
They’ll need to up the number of shows that I really want to watch. They have a lot of content, but most of it doesn’t interest me in the least. There are maybe half a dozen shows I regularly watch on Hulu. A couple of them I could give up easily and not really care; a couple others I can get on their networks’ websites for free.
-
Episodes should not expire. Right now, many shows only keep the past three or four episodes online. If I were paying for Hulu, I’d want access to all the past episodes.
I think it’s a brilliant price. It’s small enough that many of the people who are already using the service won’t mind paying it. And if they can get, say, even a million subscribers (which I’d be pretty surprised if they couldn’t; hell, World of Warcraft has well over 10 million subscribers who pay $14/month and that’s reasonably niche), that “only $5 a month” becomes a very healthy income for them.
I think these kind of micropayments, $5 and less, are going to be more and more common on the internet in the future.
Nope. I wouldn’t pay it.
I like Hulu but no way I will pay for it as it is in no way consistent enough for me.
Every show seems to be offered under different arrangements. One will post 8 days after the original airing with three trailing episodes. Another offers a season for two weeks then shit cans it and goes to the next. Another posts the day after airing for three shows then stops completely, etc.
Personally I see a lot of shows on Hulu I would not otherwise watch. In some cases I have caught up on shows I missed originally and then started Tivoing them (eg 30 Rock). If it wasn’t for Hulu I probably would never have started.
I pay enough for satellite and internet access. I am quite capable of finding streaming episodes of the shows I want online for free. Hulu is nice because service is consistently good and picture is good but not enough there.
NBC’s gotta make up for the CoCo-Leno debacle somehow.
While I admit my computer is not the fastest showgirl, it plays Nexflix movies beautifully while Hulu is a bit stuttery. I’d pay $5 if the player was as good as Netflix and the ads went away.
I’m confused. Aren’t you currently paying for TV shows with ads in them via cable or satellite? Why are you willing to do that but not for Hulu? And if you say you skip them because of the DVR well, you’re paying for the DVR service and probably more than $5/mo.
Generally I think you over value your $5.
I’d want them to kill that 8-day delay for House MD. I know that’s Fox’s doing, but I want something for $5/month.
Hulu is one of those websites like say myspace that i will gladly use for free but really isn’t worth paying a single cent for. I would pay five bucks a month for youtube, maybe.
Are you me? 
seriously though, these are my three big issues with PayLu, if I’m paying for the ability to watch content online, there had better be NO smegging ads at all
In theory TV is “free” and ad supported. If we add on bells and whistles we pay extra (e.g. a DVR). For cable/satellite we pay for many more channels than we can get over-the-air.
When I buy HBO I explicitly do not want ads. I am paying for a premium service part of which is no breaks for advertisements (yeah they advertise their stuff in between shows but no biggie there).
FTR I am one of those guys who gets pissed in a movie theater that shows me ads before the movie…not a huge deal but I paid a lot, piss off with the adverts and show me the movie.
For Hulu I am ok with the adverts since I get their need to support their efforts. If they charge me then again…piss off with the adverts.
I think $5 is a very fair and reasonable price . . .
. . . however, I care too little about television to pay it. Yes, it means I wouldn’t have just gotten to watch the complete series of ALF, but it’s not like I would have sought it out to watch it if it wasn’t presented to me.
Nope.
I have no TV service of any kind. (I can’t even pick up any over-the-air signals from local stations.)