NBC Boss Explains Why Boxee Users Can't Have Hulu | Hacker News Reader

NBC Boss Explains Why Boxee Users Can't Have Hulu

businessinsider.com

13 pointsnickb6 comments

Maybe, Hulu could actually start charging people for video like iTunes does to make up for puny ad revenue and let people do whatever they want to with the content they have so purchased?

They're doing it with iTunes, so what is the trouble? The more distribution endpoints, the better, no?

iTunes TV is insanely expensive, for instance I recently watched Heroes on Hulu (I had to borrow a few episodes when I fell behind because NBC "didn't want me watching" the show on a channel that made them money). Total cost to me for casual TV viewing: $0 and a few targeted adds that I liked.

iTunes wants $37.99 for a DRM'ed season, and I would need to buy three of them for $113.97. This is an absolute deal breaker, I would never buy anything that expensive with non-broken DRM on it. Actually, I take that back, I would never pay much more than about $10/season for a reasonably well produced but overall forgettable television show.

So, basically, the idea of charging for television content per show isn't going to happen unless everyone abruptly cancels their cable service tomorrow and inexplicably spends the exact same amount on TV shows al-a-carte while somehow maintaining their casual television viewing habits that make it such a golden advertising medium.

It would be amazing if these "content providers" got their heads out of their asses and Hulu implemented some sort of subscription model on Hulu that allowed me to watch any video without advertising wherever the fuck I want to, whether it be a computer, television or cellular device.

They have a chance to turn Hulu into a very, very large Netflix competitor but I don't see them realizing this.

Huh, I watch Hulu on my projector. I kind of thought that was the whole point?

This article seems kind of strange to me since I watch Hulu on my TV. I guess most people won't by the extra cable.

So long as I can have Hulu on Plex, I don't mind. I am astonished Plex is given away for free.

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