# Hulu might charge $5 a month **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889 "2010-01-21T20:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/21 "2010-01-23T18:07:17Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Nope. > > I have no TV service of any kind. (I can’t even pick up any over-the-air signals from local stations.) One has to wonder if you live in Antarctica and how you manage internet access but cannot get any television (cable/satellite if not OTA). ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/22 "2010-01-23T18:24:20Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > One has to wonder if you live in Antarctica and how you manage internet access but cannot get any television (cable/satellite if not OTA). I have a friend who cancelled her satellite service several years ago because she couldn’t afford it. There is no OTA signal where she lives (semi-rural NC) and until last year her only internet access was dial-up. Last year she decided to get Embarq high-speed because they offered her a good deal, but she still has no television service at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/23 "2010-01-23T18:53:33Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > 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? If I have cable TV, I don’t need to pay an additional $5 to be able to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. If I have cable internet, I still shouldn’t need to pay an additional $5 to be able to watch those shows. If I do have to pay an extra premium, there shouldn’t be any ads. That said, Hulu is very much akin to a DVR, in many ways better (except that you can’t skip the ads, but OTOH there’s only one ad per break), and I was perfectly happy to pay an extra $5/month for that when I had cable TV. If that’s what it takes to let me watch TDS and TCR and any other shows I feel like watching whenever I feel like watching them, that works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/24 "2010-01-23T22:57:18Z")
Out in the rural areas it’s very easy to be able to get high speed internet but no OTA signals from television stations. Cable and satellite services are common and DSL is available through the phone company. The television stations can be as much as 100 miles away and if you’ve got a hill or mountain between you and the station or relay tower you aren’t going to get a signal. The town I live in gets very spotty OTA signals. We have a large hill between us and the relay tower, so no signal for us. We get one station that comes in from another direction (a PBS station) and that’s it. It also isn’t strong enough of a signal for us to use a digital box. Luckily they are still broadcasting in analog right now, but it’s “vision impaired” stuff, so we get voice overs and crap like that. We aren’t big enough fans of tv to pay for cable, so we make do with the one station and video streaming available on line. I like Hulu. We use it quite a bit and I might consider paying for the service, but i would expect the ads to go away or at least be reduced if I have to pay. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/25 "2010-01-24T02:16:39Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > One has to wonder if you live in Antarctica and how you manage internet access but cannot get any television (cable/satellite if not OTA). It’s been too warm lately to be Antarctica. If you’d asked a couple weeks ago, I might have had to check for penguins to be sure. 🙂 I _could_ get cable TV and / or satellite. (God knows Charter never stops begging me to buy their stupid “bundle”.) I suppose I could put a big antenna on the roof and see if I could pick up over-the-air signal. I just don’t have any desire to do any of this. I worded my earlier post poorly. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/26 "2010-01-24T02:33:41Z")
I also don’t get over the air signals. Okay, so what I actually get is an ANALOG local station, and a version of the CW. As for satellite/cable: it came down to affording the net or TV. Since you can watch TV online, I went with the latter. Of course, I also have a policy of “If it’s been on network TV, you’ve already released it for free.” And, seeing as I can legally watch TV at my grandpa’s, I don’t see the difference between time delaying and watching it there versus time delaying and watching it here. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889/27 "2010-01-24T03:28:48Z")
Are these payware Hulu shows going to count toward Neilson ratings? Or will us internet-watchers still “not count”, thereby having all of the shows which us internet-watchers like get cancelled for having low ratings? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-might-charge-5-a-month/525889.md?page=1)