Everyone enjoys watching free TV even if there are a few ads or even better, no ads if you downloaded the content. Regardless, being able to go through a video service provider to see free TV shows is definitely a big perk, but one video provider is going to kill off their free shows soon and that provider is Hulu.
Ever since 2007, Hulu has been providing you with free content. Then in 2010 Hulu gave limited ads if you had a paid subscription, and then last year, they offered ad free service if you offered more cash each month. This could be all due to the competition Hulu has with Netflix, but they have also been slowly cutting down on free shows it’s offering and directing people to sign up for a free trial. Of course you could still find free content, but you’d be searching more than needed unless you don’t mind watching only the latest five episodes of some shows.
Ben Smith, Hulu senior vp and head of experience has this to add in:
For the past couple years, we’ve been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers. As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy.
Now, Hulu is still going to be offering its free library, but through distribution partners such as Comcast and Yahoo View. Yahoo View uses Hulu’s video launcher and ads sold by Hulu’s team (which both will be making profit off the ads), will offer the last five episodes of shows eight days after being aired by ABC, NBC, and FOX.
Hulu, will be notifying customers of this change in the next few days while those that are still using its free service will be offered free trials of paid subscriptions. What are your thoughts about Hulu going to full on paid services even with ads still being shown? What do you think of Hulu somewhat merging with Yahoo to provide free TV? Let us know by leaving your comments down below or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hulu-end-free-tv-service-917917″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Hollywood Reporter[/button]
