Hulu Fee Test Rumored To Begin Next Month

Sorry, online TV fans, but heavy Hulu users might at last be asked to fork over some money. A new rumor has indicated that Hulu will begin testing a subscription service next month, and that the monthly fee attached to this service will be a not-inconsiderable $9.95.

Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James spoke to "people with knowledge of the plans," and reported afterward that the experiment could begin as soon as May 24th.

With regards to the specifics, they then continued, "Under the proposal, Hulu would continue to provide for free the five most recent episodes of shows like Fox’s ‘Glee,’ ABC’s ‘Lost’ or NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live.’ But viewers who want to see additional episodes would pay $9.95 a month to access a more comprehensive selection, called Hulu Plus . . ."

Reactions to this idea haven’t been too positive so far. Some people say they have no need to watch anything beyond a show’s five most recent episodes (they just use Hulu to catch the occasional missed installment), and so call the plan pointless. Others are flat-out opposed to the idea of paying for the content, and would rather go the piracy route.

It’s probably important to note, then, that Hulu turned a profit in the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of this year, meaning the site shouldn’t be in danger of going out of business if the experiment isn’t successful.

There are 3 Comments. Add Yours.

Adsense Publisher
April 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm

Interesting that they’re letting people see the most recent episodes for free still. I would have charged to see the most recent episodes and let others see the past ones for free.
texxs
April 22, 2010 at 2:55 pm

We already pay for hulu by watching those pain in the butt commercials. Seriously. It’s like cable tv, if a station has commercials, then they’re already making profit, why charge the end user? The only legit answer is: Greed.

these cable TV stations and hulu.com’s aren’t citizens. They have NO rights afforded to them under the Constitution. All we have to do s say that they can’t do this any more. Why can’t we get leaders that will actually serve us instead of take advantage of us?

Just wait till they put me in charge of America!
Great Idea
April 25, 2010 at 11:38 am

This is a cool idea, however, there should be some notable differences between pay and not pay. consider Netflix, if hulu can offer a more robust offering than netlix, as well as more tv than netflix than even a 14.95 charge could be of value, BUT NO COMMERCIALS FOR PAID VIEWERS.

Everyone out there needs to understand that television is a luxury. Producers and networks are there to MAKE MONEY its not any more greed than your current job where your company needs to make a profit.

However, i believe that a free service could have stayed in place with tweaks in other areas and it is disappointing to see that they have not taken that route instead.