Hulu to charge for content in 2010 – I like Hulu, the website that allows you to legally watch current TV shows and older movies from Fox, NBC Universal, and ABC (Disney). You endure just a handful of ads per TV show or movie and you get a reasonable viewing experience. Whereas I used to resort to BitTorrent and Usenet to find episodes of TV shows, Hulu largely invalidated the need to hunt down shows off the Internet. Hulu allowed me to legally time-shift and they still got me to watch ads. Perfect for them and convenient for me. No longer content to keep what’s worked for them in the past going, Hulu wishes to charge for content starting next year. I’ll reserve judgment until I see what they come up with but I don’t think this is a good idea.
If Hulu does start to charge, this is what they should change:
- Stop blocking services like Boxee. If you want to start getting paid then stop the senseless blocking of companies who are trying to drive people to your services. Of course I’ve been using PlayOn to circumvent your efforts to keep your service off my TV. Integrate with PlayStation Network or XBox Live. Get your service on as many devices as possible. Give me an iPhone app already.
- Stop the ridiculous “We can only post 5 trailing episodes of the season” nonsense. Give me entire seasons at my fingertips.
- Stop the whole “We can only post episodes 8 days after they air” nonsense.
- Upgrade your “hi-def” option from 480p to 720p. Figure out a way to make that happen.
- No more commercials. I guess it wasn’t enough that I watched every ad so now I don’t want to see any ads.
- Open up the library already. Don’t take shows in and out of rotation. Let me have access to everything you have.
I already pay for TV with Dish Network. I don’t really want to pay for watching things on the Internet as well.
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