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I'd say you're wrong. I have a couple co-workers that watch a lot of TV and they're very excited about this offering (minus the ads, which is ridiculous for a s

I'd say you're wrong. I have a couple co-workers that watch a lot of TV and they're very excited about this offering (minus the ads, which is ridiculous for a service you're paying for). I think more people will buy into this than you believe. The co-workers in question are female non-techs, so perhaps it is a demographic thing.

WiseWeasel 16y ago
You pay for cable/satellite TV, ads and everything. Personally, the streaming internet TV thing won't be really interesting until it's standardized on open formats and APIs, and I can use 3rd party browsing, playback and DVR software with it.
- coderdude 16y ago
  The stations you watch have ads because that's how they make money. The cable or satellite provider you pay charges you monthly because, in addition to other fees and services, that's how they make money. I have a feeling that Hulu's business model doesn't quite work like that.
  - WiseWeasel 16y ago
    The cable/satellite companies also pay the networks directly, using the money from your subscription, as the ad market is too volatile for the networks to rely on alone. Obviously, Hulu is also going to have to work in a similar way, paying the networks to gain access to their content, to attract more subscribers.
    - coderdude 16y ago
      I did some reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United_States#Subscriber_Fees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United_... It states: "To support themselves, some cable channels charge "subscriber fees" in addition to airing commercials. These fees are collected directly from the cable service provider, who passes the cost onto the customer." So you are correct, at least about some portion of the stations.
  - WiseWeasel 16y ago
    Furthermore, there are both network ads and cable/satellite provider ads mixed together in commercial breaks, so both the networks and the cable/satellite companies are making money on ads as well. On my cable TV service, the first block of ads is the network's ads, followed by a few local commercials sold by my cable provider.
Towle_ 16y ago
I don't think your co-workers realize just how fast they're going to run out of things to watch. The thinking is likely, "Whole seasons will be like 5x better than just 5 trailing episodes!" But the thing is, you were already getting the whole season before, just not all at once. It's the exact same amount of content, not 5x more. The only difference now is that you can burn through it all as fast as you want. Unless Hulu has multiple all-time favorite shows of yours with huge replay value, this won't be worth it.
megaman821 16y ago
You must not consume much legal media if you think paying money entitles you to no ads. * $10 movie ticket - I see ads before the movie * $70/month cable - I see ads on every channel but PBS * $50 sport ticket - I see ads all over the field * $60 Pay Per View - I see ads all over the place and the announcers spewing ads whenever they can
- chc 16y ago
  Coincidentally, all of these "legal media" fields are seeing decreases. The media companies need to start competing with Bittorrent on actual quality of service, like Apple did. If the illegal route is that much more pleasant than the legit way, something is wrong with your business.
  - Tautology 16y ago
    correlation does not imply causation. But I see your point.
  - ericd 16y ago
    I wouldn't say it's because of the ads, but the convenience factor of BitTorrent and other sharing solutions is HUGE. Hulu is a very good step in the right direction, though they're still nowhere close in the ability to watch series from the beginning. (Netflix is much better in this regard). Seeing ads at the movies and in other things I pay for does really burn my ass, though.
    - chc 16y ago
      Among people who know they exist, fast-forwarding DVR and Bittorrent are much more popular than watching TV with ads. It seems pretty clear to me at least that people do not like ads very much. So it's perplexing to see the networks take a fundamentally good product that people might be willing to pay for and intentionally include something that people really don't want. Why would you consciously choose to make your paid product worse than the free competition?

WiseWeasel 16y ago

You pay for cable/satellite TV, ads and everything. Personally, the streaming internet TV thing won't be really interesting until it's standardized on open formats and APIs, and I can use 3rd party browsing, playback and DVR software with it.

coderdude 16y ago
The stations you watch have ads because that's how they make money. The cable or satellite provider you pay charges you monthly because, in addition to other fees and services, that's how they make money. I have a feeling that Hulu's business model doesn't quite work like that.
- WiseWeasel 16y ago
  The cable/satellite companies also pay the networks directly, using the money from your subscription, as the ad market is too volatile for the networks to rely on alone. Obviously, Hulu is also going to have to work in a similar way, paying the networks to gain access to their content, to attract more subscribers.
  - coderdude 16y ago
    I did some reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United_States#Subscriber_Fees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United_... It states: "To support themselves, some cable channels charge "subscriber fees" in addition to airing commercials. These fees are collected directly from the cable service provider, who passes the cost onto the customer." So you are correct, at least about some portion of the stations.
- WiseWeasel 16y ago
  Furthermore, there are both network ads and cable/satellite provider ads mixed together in commercial breaks, so both the networks and the cable/satellite companies are making money on ads as well. On my cable TV service, the first block of ads is the network's ads, followed by a few local commercials sold by my cable provider.

Towle_ 16y ago

I don't think your co-workers realize just how fast they're going to run out of things to watch. The thinking is likely, "Whole seasons will be like 5x better than just 5 trailing episodes!" But the thing is, you were already getting the whole season before, just not all at once. It's the exact same amount of content, not 5x more. The only difference now is that you can burn through it all as fast as you want. Unless Hulu has multiple all-time favorite shows of yours with huge replay value, this won't be worth it.

megaman821 16y ago

You must not consume much legal media if you think paying money entitles you to no ads. * $10 movie ticket - I see ads before the movie * $70/month cable - I see ads on every channel but PBS * $50 sport ticket - I see ads all over the field * $60 Pay Per View - I see ads all over the place and the announcers spewing ads whenever they can

chc 16y ago
Coincidentally, all of these "legal media" fields are seeing decreases. The media companies need to start competing with Bittorrent on actual quality of service, like Apple did. If the illegal route is that much more pleasant than the legit way, something is wrong with your business.
- Tautology 16y ago
  correlation does not imply causation. But I see your point.
- ericd 16y ago
  I wouldn't say it's because of the ads, but the convenience factor of BitTorrent and other sharing solutions is HUGE. Hulu is a very good step in the right direction, though they're still nowhere close in the ability to watch series from the beginning. (Netflix is much better in this regard). Seeing ads at the movies and in other things I pay for does really burn my ass, though.
  - chc 16y ago
    Among people who know they exist, fast-forwarding DVR and Bittorrent are much more popular than watching TV with ads. It seems pretty clear to me at least that people do not like ads very much. So it's perplexing to see the networks take a fundamentally good product that people might be willing to pay for and intentionally include something that people really don't want. Why would you consciously choose to make your paid product worse than the free competition?