Archive for: hulu
Rumor has it that Apple may be bidding on Hulu during the process of company’s sale. Hulu announced that Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners would assist in the sale of the company back in June – and with that, Apple may be toying with the idea of a bid. Both Amazon and Yahoo! are interested in the company, but it makes more sense for Apple to toss it’s hat into the ring. With iTunes only being a purchase/rent service for your TV and Movie needs – Apple would finally be able to fully compete with the likes of Netflix.
Personally, I feel that Apple needs to get into the streaming game. As successful as iTunes is with the movie and TV rentals – Apple could really add to the billions they have in the bank. Being able to add a subscription based service to their media catalog – the interface of AppleTV – Apple will be a serious contender in this market. With rumors of an Apple Television on the internets, and the iDevice integration already in place, no one would pass up on the ability to stream. With Apple already having a big collection of new and older options, to add the streaming service would do nothing but dominate the market.
What about you guys – would you fork over more of your hard earned cash to Apple for a subscription service for your streaming needs? Would you keep your Netflix subscriptions?
Video streaming gurus looking to subscribe to Hulu Plus on Xbox Live have until tomorrow (April 29th) to wait, in which the service will officially launch. Also, thanks to Jack Link’s Beef Jerky the first week of service (April 29th-May 6th) is completely free, after which the price rises to the standard $9.99/month. Better get your stream on…
Hulu Plus may be blocked on RIM’s PlayBook tablet, but rest assured help is on the way. RIM has already confirmed ongoing discussions with Hulu to get an official app up and running for the PlayBook. That’s all fine and dandy, though no date or timeline has been given as to when we’ll actually see said functionality go live.
Thankfully there’s a clever little workaround that’ll get you all the Hulu Plus content on your PlayBook that your heart desires. You see, Hulu video embeds can actually play just fine on the PlayBook as the videos themselves aren’t doing any active blocking. As such, PlayBook Revolution has a handy embedded search bar that will let you search Hulu’s vast library and play them back on your PlayBook for free.
Best get going and enjoy this little “feature” while it’s still available…
Android users looking to get their Hulu Plus fix on the go will soon have an outlet. Yesterday at Samsung’s CES press conference, the company gave us a brief look at Hulu Plus for Android. From the short demo we saw, it was smooth, quick, and simple. But that’s where the information ends. Unfortunately, Hulu isn’t saying much of anything in regards to Hulu Plus mobile service or app pricing. Ditto for a release date as well as minimum requirements too. In short: We don’t know much of anything about Hulu Plus for Android other than it’s being worked on. Look for more info in the coming months
- November 17, 2010 6:36 am
Hulu Plus was a valiant effort by the big TV networks to jump into this whole web streaming revolution. But a high price, usage of ads in a paid product, and a selection that wasn’t exactly spectacular marred the service from the start. Since then, we’ve heard Hulu execs claim that it is doing amazingly well (summarized quote of course). Though it can’t be doing all that well if we’re looking at a new, lower price this morning…
- November 11, 2010 6:38 am
Big content-owning companies (and companies who do business with them) aren’t the most intelligent, often being completely blind to the larger picture. Case in point: Hulu blocking any device that accesses their free, public web streams. The theory and rationale behind it is beyond backwards and stupid. But arguing about that could take weeks, countless pages, and at least a few trips to some heart-healthy fast food joint. For the sake of time and health, we’ll just say that the whole Hulu blocking tactic is ridiculous.
On that note, it appears an update pushed out by Hulu to block the newly released Boxee Box isn’t quite working as planned. Apparently, users on various browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer are seeing a block message stating that they are using a Boxee Box and are therefor ineligible to watch whatever it is they’re trying to watch.
A rather minor issue no doubt. But an issue that doesn’t have to exist in the first place. You stay classy Hulu. God knows I love your paid “premium” service that still crams ads down my throat.
The day of reckoning has come — Hulu is no longer the completely free online video uber-giant. Now, it’s a free + premium offering. Today marks the official debut of Hulu Plus, a new $9.99/month service that aims to monetize Hulu and keep studios interested. What exactly does the new surcharge get you?
Those looking for mobile Hulu privileges such as iPhone, iPad, TV, and countless other mobile devices as well as gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 will need to upgrade to Hulu Plus. Further sweetening the pot, Hulu Plus members will have wider access (read: full seasons of full length episodes as well as back catalogs of archived content) to movies and TV shows as well as HD content. Unfortunately, the HD carrot is only 720p, rather unflattering and disappointing in a world full of 1080p TV’s and even higher resolution computer monitors. But we’ll take what we can get I guess.
Overall it looks like a solid offering with a price tag that isn’t too restrictive. Only time will tell if Hulu Plus will sink or swim. Looks like another wait and see approach here.
What do the readers think? Is Hulu Plus offering up enough premium content and features for $9.99/month of your hard earned cash, or are you jumping ship to other free services? Let us here it in the comments…
Update: A comment from reader, “Jaych” highlights a really good question: “Will Hulu Plus feature ads?” I’m looking for an answer now, as if it will continue offering ads, even in smaller numbers, failure is all that comes to mind. I’ve shot off an email to Hulu asking about that as well as why they chose to stick with 720p, so stay tuned.
Update 2: Now seeing a few reports that ads will in fact be part of Hulu Plus. Waiting on confirmation from Hulu themselves. If true, Hulu Plus already sucks.
Update 3: And that’s all she wrote. Ads will officially be a part of Hulu Plus. The reasoning given was that ads were kept in play to keep the price at $9.99. Fair enough. Though I’m sure plenty of you out there in internet land would gladly pay a few extra bucks to keep ads out. I mean, the whole reason people flocked from cable/satellite to Hulu in the first place was (1) free TV and (2) the lack of ads. Looks like they killed two birds with that stone. Thoughts?
Hulu is a wonderful landscape full of TV shows past and present. It’s a must have staple on any computer. It should be a must have feature of the Xbox 360. But, like all great innovations in modern media blending with the digital age, greed and arguing rights holders are ruining it for all of us…
Hulu is currently on a war path of sorts, with it’s content owners closing up holes, cramming in advertisements and effectively killing all the reasons consumers loved the service in the first place. Even worse is the fact that those same content owners (motivated by greed of course) are butchering Hulu’s transgression to mobiles. Bad for them, good for us.
Where Hulu is letting us mobile users down, Fox’s new “Bitbop” will pick up the slack…
