AfterDawn: Tech news

Hulu to get rid of free, ad-supported service

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Aug 2016 9:06 User comments (10)

Hulu to get rid of free, ad-supported service

Hulu has gone full-premium by announcing the elimination of its free, ad-supported service.
The company also announced an expanded distribution deal with Yahoo, which includes the launch of Yahoo View. Yahoo View will give users the five most recent episodes of shows from NBC, ABC and Fox for free (with ads), eight days after they air on live TV.

Hulu is owned by Disney, Fox, Comcast and Time Warner.

"For the past couple years, we've been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers," said Hulu senior VP and head of experience Ben Smith. "As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy."

The service costs $7.99 per month with minimal ads, or $11.99 without them.

Source:
Variety

Tags: streaming Hulu
Previous Next  

10 user comments

19.8.2016 12:52

This is the end of HuLu !

29.8.2016 16:20

Originally posted by ronhondo:
This is the end of HuLu !
Hulu? Never heard of her. :D

39.8.2016 16:22

...but on a serious note, I don't see how this is going to garner more profits. You don't get happy customers by charging them for what you used to offer for free.

49.8.2016 17:30

Rarely used Hulu when it was free. Won't be using it at all now. Good luck to them, they're going to need it!

***

$7.99 a month with minimal ads? Will people actually pay for that? I won't even watch free TV because of worthless commercials. These companies should be paying us to watch their garbage.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 09 Aug 2016 @ 5:35

59.8.2016 22:35

Bye! I already pay for Netflix and Prime, that's quite enough, thenkyew. I will NOT be paying for:
- CNN Go.
- HBO Go.
- {Fill in the blank} Go.
- Hulu.

Or, in fact, any other paid VOD service. I don't even have cable (digital or otherwise) TV, just internet.

610.8.2016 10:04

NBC, ABC and Fox???

What about CBS? I know they are staying independent compared to the others but...

...include ALL the main network channels or NO DEAL!


I used Hulu once or twice back several years ago but it's been Netflix and Prime all the way. Perhaps if Hulu gave access to the past 5 episodes the NEXT DAY....this might be acceptable......MIGHT.

Hulu has been evil since its inception and driven by one thing ONLY..........money. They should be focused on the customer base first and THEN comes the money. Their model is reversed IMO.

711.8.2016 16:49

Bye bye, Hulu......

811.8.2016 21:30

Ad-supported TV that you have to pay for sounds insane, but remember...people still pay for basic cable...they even rent the box that is required to get HD channels on TVs with HD tuners.

I am not saying what Hulu does is right; only that it is pretty standard all things considered. I'll wait for content to be on Netflix or Prime and I'm sure there are plenty of people who were watching ads and will now just use torrents.

912.8.2016 10:25

honestly goodbye hulu you won't be missed when popcorn on the xbox one does it for free so does crackle

1012.8.2016 18:48

It's all moot to me. In Oz we have the crappiest internet speeds due to our old white guy myopic conservative gov.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive