# Hulu to Start Charging - Sound the Death Bells? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896 "2009-10-23T20:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/81 "2009-10-26T13:41:07Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > Because they’ve demonstrated that their first priority isn’t the convenience and satisfaction of the customer. I honestly think they resent the fact that their content is being used in ways they didn’t imagine or plan for. That is an interesting take. Sadly, I think you are correct. ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/82 "2009-10-26T14:43:44Z")
I think this has been taken way out of proportion. "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 " Quick link: [Stop Overreacting: Hulu Not Ditching Free Yet | Techdirt](http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091023/1117066656.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/83 "2009-10-26T17:14:17Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Any forward thinking content provider should be out seeding false torrents on every torrent site they can in order to drive business toward their sanctioned outlet. Except that the comments on the torrent search sites are just going to show who is fooling. Or you can go only with the proven users, like EZTV. It’s not like Limewire, which doesn’t give any information about the content. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/84 "2009-10-26T17:52:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > How is Hulu (at 480p) comparable with high definition 1080 on a 50" screen? The selection is poor and many people experience buffer delays. Right, problems that would be solved by charging for the service. I am not sure what people think Hulu is. Hulu is a service that serves original content from Fox and NBC. That’s pretty much all that it is. If you like Fox/NBC content then it’s worth your while to pay for it. If not, then it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/85 "2009-10-26T18:04:42Z")
I’ll pay for it, but I doubt many people will. I use it primarily to catch up on episodes that I miss on my DVR, for whatever reason. As such, the only place I ever see a commercial is on Hulu. If they charge a low enough rate, I’d pay… but even a monthly charge leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I certainly wouldn’t do it if I still had to watch commercials. As a point of reference, I pay the annual $36 for the registered version of Pandora… but I use Pandora all day long at work, and some at home- far more than I ever use Hulu. I’d also require that they stop screwing around with their signal so that PlayOn can reliably stream it to my TV via my PS3 or 360. It seems that I have to update PlayOn at least once every two weeks or so because Hulu has changed their format. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/86 "2009-10-27T17:21:23Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I’ll pay for it, but I doubt many people will. > > I use it primarily to catch up on episodes that I miss on my DVR, for whatever reason. As such, the only place I ever see a commercial is on Hulu. If they charge a low enough rate, I’d pay… but even a monthly charge leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I certainly wouldn’t do it if I still had to watch commercials. As a point of reference, I pay the annual $36 for the registered version of Pandora… but I use Pandora all day long at work, and some at home- far more than I ever use Hulu. > > I’d also require that they stop screwing around with their signal so that PlayOn can reliably stream it to my TV via my PS3 or 360. It seems that I have to update PlayOn at least once every two weeks or so because Hulu has changed their format. Well yes, I assume that if they are going to charge for it they recognize that they have to provide some sort of service. If they do not then they are going to be hurting. I expect them to be smarter than that, but generally overestimating the intelligence of execs at Fox and NBC is a fool’s game. After all Fox is the company that fucked up the X-Men franchise and NBC is the network that couldn’t figure out how to market a bible story (Kings) to a country full of fundie Christians. Hulu may very well fail, but make no mistake. This is the future of how content will be delivered. Everyone on this thread who is complaining will eventually be buying content precisely in this manner. The erroneous idea that there is a difference between TV and the Internet will eventually be washed from their memories. Superficial differences regarding the size of the screen and the resolution of the content delivered by packet switching will become opaque and irrelevant to them. Physical media is going away, this is just the start of it. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/87 "2009-10-27T19:26:42Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Right, problems that would be solved by charging for the service. _Could_ be solved. Not so sure they _would_ be. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/88 "2009-10-27T19:56:11Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > _Could_ be solved. Not so sure they _would_ be. Fair enough. This might be the death knell for Hulu, as an early adopter if they don’t do it precisely right, but within ten years this will be the primary mode of entertainment consumption. People will no longer buy blu-ray discs. It’s kind of funny to hear people complaining about paying 15- 20 a month for a large catalogue of content when they’ll happily pay $ 40 for a single blu-ray disc. In the end cost-benefit analysis it makes no sense at all. I invite people to add up the price of their cable TV budget, the cost of their netflix account, the average rate they spend on blu-ray/DVDs in a month and then start thinking about how that might change if they were to buy content directly from distributors. Maybe you don’t want Hulu because Fox/NBC aren’t your thing. I would because I like a good bit of FX content, but start asking yourself what you’d think if they started adding Universal content, or if Warner Brothers started competing. What do you think about what I mentioned above regarding Disney doing it? ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/89 "2009-10-29T19:13:23Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I invite people to add up the price of their cable TV budget, the cost of their netflix account, the average rate they spend on blu-ray/DVDs in a month and then start thinking about how that might change if they were to buy content directly from distributors. Maybe you don’t want Hulu because Fox/NBC aren’t your thing. I would because I like a good bit of FX content, but start asking yourself what you’d think if they started adding Universal content, or if Warner Brothers started competing. What do you think about what I mentioned above regarding Disney doing it? I’m paying $100/mo for Cable/HBO/Starz/DVR/Netflix. If I could get all the current TV shows and a decent selection of movies from an online subscription source, I would seriously consider it. I’d even consider two separate sources, one for TV shows and one for movies. If it worked through the PS3 easily accessible from a menu, no doubt I’d get it. Hooking a computer up to the TV isn’t exactly a user friendly experience when you need to use a mouse/keyboard while sitting on the couch. I’d even be OK with just DVD quality. Having everything available on-demand like that would be LEGEND…(wait for it)…DARY. I’d easily pay $50/mo for that. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/90 "2009-10-29T19:40:12Z")
Give me a website where I can: - Search and play any show/movie/documentary etc (or a huge number) - Be able to see it on my TV screen with a good picture (HD) - Not have commercials. - be able to have a ‘random’ play that randomly picks shows of certain types (‘nature documentary’ for example) My God…I’d pay for that! Lots! Sign me up! $100 a month…sure! Hulu is not the above though…but I hope it is coming soon. ====== Advertisement-based entertainment media is under threat. It may even die. Even if it doesn’t…‘free’ internet sites don’t seem to work very well as businesses. We will have to become used to paying for these things…and this is a GOOD thing\*! The quality will jump when they have a revenue stream…or they will die. - LIke many years ago I decided to never buy/play a game online that DIDN’T have a monthly fee… ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/91 "2009-10-29T20:01:20Z")
I think of it like radio, if I like a song, I will wait for it to come on the radio, if I like it enough and don’t get sick of it I’ll buy the CD. (Usually at a used CD store). But 99% of the time, I get sick of the song before I’d go out and buy it. What that means is really the content is OK for keeping my busy but it’s not a necessity. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/92 "2009-10-30T02:29:37Z")
I’ve only watched a handful of shows on Hulu, if it went to pay I’d not be watching it at all. I wouldn’t mind if they stuck a few extra commercials in there, maybe 2 per break, but other then that I’ll just use my DVR and let it take the commercials out for me. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/93 "2009-10-30T02:51:55Z")
You guys are kind of missing the point. You don’t buy Hulu to watch Discovery Channel documentaries, you buy it to watch Fox and NBC content. You’d pay for the Discovery Channel network to get the Discovery channel documentaries. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/94 "2009-10-30T05:16:13Z")
Except we don’t buy it for that, either. And many people are saying that they _won’t_ buy it for that. I don’t understand what point you think people are missing. (Unless there’s some point that I’m, uh, missing. 🙂 ) Can you clarify what you’re saying? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/95 "2009-10-30T06:38:51Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > You guys are kind of missing the point. You don’t buy Hulu to watch Discovery Channel documentaries, you buy it to watch Fox and NBC content. You’d pay for the Discovery Channel network to get the Discovery channel documentaries. NBC & FOX have their shows available to watch for free on their own websites. Why would I pay to get the same thing from Hulu? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/96 "2009-10-30T14:49:13Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > NBC & FOX have their shows available to watch for free on their own websites. Why would I pay to get the same thing from Hulu? If they are charging on Hulu why would they keep making their shows available for free on their websites? If the shows remain free on the website then that would be a dumbass business move on their part. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/97 "2009-10-30T14:51:49Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Except we don’t buy it for that, either. And many people are saying that they _won’t_ buy it for that. I don’t understand what point you think people are missing. (Unless there’s some point that I’m, uh, missing. 🙂 ) Can you clarify what you’re saying? The people who keep talking about these buffet style options that include the content of other networks. The, “I would buy it if the business model resembled exactly what I am getting from Cable Television now.”, argument. This is the future of Content Delivery. Maybe not in the immediate near term but 10-20 years from now this will be the normal mode of consumption as people begin to question why they are paying for all the channels they don’t care to watch. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/98 "2009-10-30T18:37:46Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I have to say this. Most of the USA is not watching analog broadcast signals. Analog is done for except for a few exceptions. You mean you are receiving a digital broadcast of standard definition and viewing on a standard definition television. I’m watching standard television, but it’s not a digital signal. It’s a digital signal which my cable company has converted to analog, which is what I’m picking up on my 2000 Panasonic. If you’re not watching on a set with an ATSC tuner, you have to convert the signal to analogue some way, whether it’s cable, satellite, or an OTA convertor, or you’re just not watching. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/99 "2009-10-30T18:57:46Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > You guys are kind of missing the point. You don’t buy Hulu to watch Discovery Channel documentaries, you buy it to watch Fox and NBC content. You’d pay for the Discovery Channel network to get the Discovery channel documentaries. Why do you think people are missing the point rather than completely understanding the point and rejecting it? We just don’t pay for Hulu. I don’t think anybody - certainly not most people - missed the point. We get what Hulu is, we’re not paying for it. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896/100 "2009-11-01T12:28:10Z")
I picked that I won’t pay for it and don’t think it will survive. That’s actually not 100% true, if they offered a HUGE selection (I’m thinking pretty much every new show that comes out with every episode the day it comes out, and every episode of every reasonably popular old show) as well as something similar for movies (coming out the day they come out on video) then I might consider paying say, $60 a year or something. But of course, that’s unreasonable to expect. There’s no way in hell I’m going to pay a buck an episode or $20 a month or whatever the hell they will probably charge. Before I discovered Hulu I just didn’t watch TV, and if they start charging for it well… I’ll go back to not watching TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hulu-to-start-charging-sound-the-death-bells/514896.md?page=6)