Comments on: Hulu-Disney deal hurts YouTube, helps cable

Hulu now boasts long-form content from three major movie studios. One analyst says Hulu could solve the cable industry's Web problem.

[karpenterskids]

I hope and PRAY that the day will never come when we'll have to be subscribed to "top dollar TV services" in order to use Hulu.

What makes Hulu so successful is that it's FREE, CONVENIENT, and EASILY ACCESSIBLE.
Take away any one of those, and me (along with everyone else) will quickly fade away from their fanbase.


I love Hulu the way it is now, and with the prospect of Disney-owned content, it seems to be getting even better. I just hope that all its success doesn't coax it into signing some contract that ruins it for us users. If it's not broken...don't fix it!

[divisionbyzero]

McQuivey is completely and totally wrong.

Cable companies see Hulu as a competitive threat to their cable business. If Hulu were able to offer everything cable could offer (which they can't yet), then nobody would bother with cable. They'd just buy an IP connection.

Can you imagine the erosion in revenue that this would cause for cable companies? Obviously that's why cable companies are trying to limit the amount of content consumers can download on the pretext that it will break their network. Of course, this is a total lie. Look at Cablevision.

Anyhow, what the cable companies are trying to negotiate is for Hulu to only send content to their customers and not to the open internet. The open internet allows anyone to access Hulu content from anywhere. This open nature of the internet further reduces cable companies to commodity broadband providers. Of course, Hulu will never agree. So they will roll-out some abomination of a compromise that will do nothing to prolong the cable business model.

[sjniedermeyer]

I think we're headed to an all online video world with an ala carte subscription and pay-per-view business model. Advertising likely won't go away as it subsidizes what it would really cost to pay for content. Look at cable TV, they have all of those ads but you still have to subscribe. It will be the same way online eventually. High-speed Internet will replace cable TV just like cable replaced video broacasts over airwaves. People are going to want the richer functionality of smart media and the ability to vote for specific content with their wallets.

[ewsachse]

Cable did not replace video broadcasts over the airwaves. Not even close.

The majority of people still receive TV broadcasts over the air. The new DTV system plus the sour economy may increase the number of people who only use over the air TV.

These streaming media sites like Hulu have yet to provide HD content that can compete with the DTV system. Most people want to watch TV on their TV's, not huddled over a desktop computer or a laptop.

Hooking a computer up to a TV is not mainstream, and will probably never become mainstream.

[ewelch]

Not until the quality I get from Hulu is as good as Time Warner's (or whatever company I switch to if they ever implement bandwidth caps) High Definition via cable.

And if Hulu were to go Silverlight, I would never consider it.

[ewsachse]

Dude, seriously go see your optometrist.

If you cannot see the difference between 420p and 720p/1080i, then you need a new eyeglass prescription.

It is not some hollow marketing ploy because measurable specifications can back up that HDTV is far superior than SDTV.

Do everyone a favor and make an optometrist appointment now. The public does not want your near-sighted self driving on the public roads.

[vixnbrianaf]

I see it happening....and at the same time I see more bootleg and illegal sites popping up....if all of the major networks would just host their shows online....even but for one season at a time, these illegal sites would be nullified. They offer free service without commercial interruption....and the networks are talking about charging us on top of making us watch commercials----BOGUS!!!!! Greed....that's all there is to it....greed any way any rich person can make an extra buck from hard working individuals they will....well if that's the case then I'll just completely quit watching their stupid shows....fact is the most of the shows that I like are slowly being phased out anyways and anytime there happens to be a new show that I like it barely lasts a season anyways....so now new shows for me and when mine are over at the end of the year that's it I'm done play network limbo-if they want loyal customers they need to be loyal to us instead of draining us for every penny we have...I don't mind the commercials while I watch videos online, I also don't mind the fact that some sites even have stores for show merchandise, or as seen on....I kind of like that and if I could afford to I'd probably be shopping at the stores because they have some pretty cute things, but by charging me to watch they'll defiantly do nothing but alienate their clients. Its time to move on cable----you've got phone and on demand....you've got the premium channels, you've got internet....your still making money quit whining because the major networks, which are widely available for free in most areas with the digital converter boxes and bunny ears or what have you, aren't making costumers pay to watch online-----let us enjoy something!!!! I AM an internet tv watcher and if they make it so I have to pay I'll stop watching tv at all and save my money for something more worth while.

[karpenterskids]

So true...it's not fair at ALL to make us pay on top of watching commercials.

Even without commercials...I wouldn't pay a penny for most of the junk on TV nowadays.
Half of it's not even worth my time to watch on Hulu for free!

[rtuinenburg]

I think this is how its going play out. They will cut off access (or limit it a lot) from Hulu to the general public. They will offer hulu with a bundle of high speed internet. Like $40 without hulu, and $60 with. This way you can get an all internet tv experience, or if you like the infinite variety of cable then you get add that or not. All this quality content cannot stay for free forever guys. There is no free lunch. Hulu right now is a proof of concept, and I think they have proven it. People like it, now they are gonna find out how much they like it, by putting a price on it.

[badasscat]

This doesn't hurt YouTube in the slightest. It's actually amazing to me that people *still* don't get what makes sites like YouTube popular in the first place.

YouTube obviously didn't get popular with long-form content, because they didn't have any at all for a long time. What got them popular, and what will keep them popular, is the long tail. It's the same as Netflix, Wikipedia, IMDB, Amazon, or pretty much any of the other largest net-based companies on the internet that you can think of (hell, Google).

If you want to see that old Autograph video from 1985 - and I don't know why you would, but say you did - where would you go? Not Hulu, YouTube. If you want to see the latest White Castle commercial because you're writing a blog post about it (as I just did), where do you go? Not Hulu, YouTube. If you want to see an amazing video Spike Jonze made showing a bunch of kids skateboarding in slow motion through explosions, where do you go? Not Hulu, YouTube.

And every single day, hundreds of thousands of people make that same decision, for hundreds of thousands of *different reasons*. That's the long tail in action. The long tail is real, and all of the biggest internet sites are an example of it.

I'm not saying Hulu won't be or isn't successful doing what they do. The hit-driven business can be a perfectly good model, but the problem is you're completely reliant on the next big thing all the time. What happens when LOST and Grey's Anatomy aren't popular anymore, or end? Well, Hulu had better hope Disney's got something else that is. YouTube does not have that problem.

Both companies will likely continue to grow. But YouTube's in a safer place.

[sadiq815]

Ah, wish there was Hulu in Canada.

[maxrmnf]

maybe there will be one

[Beerfuzz]

Yeha. Definately drop your cable and move on to internet tv using Hulu, PlayOn and your Xbox and PS3..

Check out themediamall.com and thefuzznetwork.com. Both those sites are great start.

[mraardvark]

Ahhh, so will cable companies try to end net neutrality to make money off of hulu? Depends how the politics in Washington pan out and who has the best lobbyist. Lately that seems to be in the telecoms favor. Stupid DMCA

[chris_d]

I was fairly certain it wouldn't be long before Hulu started trying to wring more money out of viewers. This is just cable and media wrestling to see who can get a bigger chunk of the viewer's dollar. More overpriced crap to come. It's not worth bothering with it anymore. There's little worth watching on TV anyway.

[divisionbyzero]

I also wish people would get their markets straight. Facebook, MySpace, etc vs. YouTube (even though Facebook does let you post YouTube videos). Hulu vs. Cable. In other words, Hulu and YouTube really aren't even in the same market for advertisers.

[jamesdsnyder]

Greg ? Your suggestion that Google should collect their toys and get out of the online video distribution game now that Hulu got the nod from Disney comes off as a somewhat loaded opinion that should (at the least) be accompanied by a disclaimer of bias coming from a news source owned by a cable company.

It?s obvious that you have taken the side of the media companies and you offer a somewhat shallow prediction of an industry that is has shown abysmal performance in displaying any competence in innovation around video distribution in the last 30 years.

I don?t think you can easily discount Google?s competitive advantage on the Web. If the there is such a thing as a precident for Web content distribution models ? you need look no further than what Apple has done with I-Tunes compared with cable rivals that have done next to nothing. One thing for sure is that a complex and multi-faceted picture is emerging what TV 2.0 will be. I would gauge that technology companies might be a little more competent in an industry that is rewriting the rules.

Sincerely,

Jim Snyder
Net-Net Analytics

[maxrmnf]

Disney really likes putting up a lot of products!

[paulimusmaximus]

I never go to youtube to watch shows anyway. I go to youtube to watch user created videos, and I go to hulu to watch tv shows. I'd prefer to keep it that way, because it's easy to find what you want on hulu, and not always so easy to find what you want on youtube, because there are so many videos.

I don't understand why it's hard to get money from advertisers for tv shows on the internet. I DVR about 99% of what I watch on TV, and I never watch commercials. But when I watch a show online, I can't skip the commercials. So I actually watch them. Also, since they only show one commercial per commercial break, I don't start doing something else, since I know the show will be back on in 30 seconds. So they're actually getting me to watch the commercials. Seems like a no brainer to me if I was in advertising.

[play7]

Disney, is selling out

[mvdyk03]

Ha! Well done.

[Nick.Kentros]

I think YouTube should have supported pirated videos much stronger than it does. Sure it's "illegal" but YouTube was always just the place to see pretty much any online video. They should have embraced that and continue to offer free content of pretty much anything. Hulu is a completely different monster, because it is owned by the studios. I don't think YouTube ever really had a chance against that just because they had all the content officially, while YouTube is more about the community of people who post videos

I feel like YouTube should have chosen a direction to persue. They should have stuck to user-uploaded content, and allowed for pretty much anything and everything to be there, rather than constantly removing videos because they "violate terms of service". Or they should have tried to make the move to official and legit content. But the way the went about it, sort of a limp-wristed approach to both, i think hurt them pretty bad

[play7]

Its bad enough youtube as all sorts of fruits and nuts to start with. RIght minded content owners ( not the d it your self nut cases ther. But major studios would never do it. Dangerous, hurtful, anti-soical kiddies and so called adults would never be supported buy billion dollar corpation movie companies. Fact

[xanadul]

Yea if Hulu ever goes to pay to watch thing im going to have to set the timers back up on the VCR to get the shows i want to watch or i just won't bother. I do think that any network that does not at least have a few epsioses of there shows up on there main site are shooting themselves in the foot.

youtube is not the place to watch 30 mins + shows its the place to watch 5 min or less clips and i don't think they are ever going to get away from what ppl see them as.

STAY FREE HULU AND YOU ALWAYS GOT ME!!!

[play7]

This just goes to show you people will not pay for anything these days Stealing OS, (virus software laughable) games etc............ They steal, beg etc...........But hey! they have a computer worth over 4000.00! Go figure.

[Paladin1650]

I'm in favor of micropayments for TV shows. Why not create an account with your credit card, and simply charge the card $0.10 or whatever whenever you watch a show on Hulu? The charge per show could decline the more shows you watch in a month or something. That would be much more convenient to me instead of needing to buy huge DVD collections or download pirated copies of unknown quality.