Hulu internally testing subscription model?

[Matthew DeCarlo]

At a Goldman Sachs interview on Tuesday, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker indicated that Hulu may adopt a subscription service in the future. This is not a new idea for the online video service, as involved execs have previously embraced the thought of a pay plan. Recent developments suggest it may be more than just a vision, however.

Sources have supposedly confirmed that Hulu is already internally beta testing a subscription video model. They are said to be working on the technical requirements, and more specifically, how the authentication piece of a subscription-based service would work.

While it may be ironing out the technical details, there is no hint at when Hulu might introduce the service -- you can only draw so much speculation off the fact that they are testing internally. StreamingMedia.com tried to get a comment from Hulu, but they have yet to respond.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/36283-hulu-internally-testing-subscription-model.html

 

[JudaZ]

Sad to hear they are shutting down Hulu..
seems to be a promising service, now maybe going to its grave ..
(because that will probably be the outcome ...o well .. back to torrents i guess)

 

[Twister123]

there's nothing on hulu you can't get elsewhere

 

[Badfinger]

Ads are one thing, but paying money for stuff from my already too much $ spent on cable service?

 

[Vrmithrax]

I wouldn't start digging a grave for Hulu yet... Odds are they will keep most of their free stuff, but have "premium" content for a small subscription fee. As was said, you can find most (if not all) of hulu's content elsewhere, they would be absolutely beyond stupid to cut their own throat by charging for things that are free everywhere else - and Hulu isn't where it is today by being stupid.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Badfinger said:
Ads are one thing, but paying money for stuff from my already too much $ spent on cable service?

So what if Hulu could make the programming you actually watch available on demand, for a MUCH smaller fee than the exorbitant one charged by your cable company?
Me, I've given up on cable. Why pay massive fees, locked into 1-2 year contracts, for programming that is 90% crap anyhow? Most of the shows I want to watch, I can catch on Hulu or other online outlets, or watch using a decent digital antenna to get local stuff. Plus, I like the convenience of on-demand from anywhere, like when I'm on the road and sitting in a hotel room.