AfterDawn: News

Hulu to start $10 per month premium subscription

Hulu, one of the most popular video streaming sites in America has announced it will begin testing a $10 per month premium subscription starting on May 24th.

The service, called Hulu Plus, will allow users to watch additional episodes than those that are currently made available to free users. Free users can, for the most part, watch the last five episodes of a current season of a show.



News Corp., NBCU and Disney, the three media giants behind the streaming site say Hulu has been profitable for two quarters now, with over $100 million in revenue coming from advertisers. Of course $100 million is a drop in the bucket compared to profits from "traditional media" outlets.

On top of the subscription model, Hulu is expected to eventually add as many commercial breaks as current TV has, 9 minutes for every 21 minutes of programming.

Despite being the second most popular streaming video site behind YouTube, Nielsen Online reports that unique viewership has almost flatlined, still growing but barely.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Apr 2010 11:25

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• 7 comments

• gnovak1

  I'm betting the cable companies have something to do with this.
  
  I'll stick to the free last 5 episodes.
  
  Glenn

  22.4.2010 12:46 #1

• 20TONS

  Why would I pay Hulu to watch something I already hired my satellite company to broadcast?

  22.4.2010 13:12 #2

• oappi

  $10 isn't that much and if international users could get the same deal i would gladly pay $10 for hulu. At the moment i have being using vpn for it =(.
  
  This is entirely different service than what satellite companies deliver. With hulu you can watch what they have right to show instead of just choose a channel and watch what your satellite company wants to broadcast.

  22.4.2010 17:31 #3

• bigfamei

  I would rather download my tv, Or hook up my 92 sony vcr. Then sit and watch a full 10 minutes of commercials with my shows. Its a shame hulu is a good site. But corporate greed has sunk another good site.
  

  22.4.2010 20:04 #4

• pcrazy99

  Haven't watched Hulu for a long time. I'll continue to get my media free and commercial free. There is a reason why I hardly ever turn on the tv.
  

  22.4.2010 20:16 #5

• KillerBug

  I still use my TV, but I record in advance and skip all the commercials...and I even have to do that on PBS!
  
  If Hulu did the following, I would be happy to pay them $20 a month for it:
  1.) Provide live streaming versions of all the channels, in HD and not some crummy, overcompressed HD...it should look good on a big TV.
  2.) [optional] Provide a past-dvr, allowing users to watch anything that has been on any channel at any time during the last month (more than a month would be even better).
  3.) I understand that some networks like Showtime or HBO would want to charge a lot extra for their programming, I don't blame you if you don't carry this, or if it costs a bit extra. However, normal channels that you would get in a typical HD cable package should all be there, and without extra fees. Failing this, charge a low monthly fee per channel, so that I can pick the few channels that I want, and not have to pay for about 100 channels that I will never even channelsurf through.

  22.4.2010 23:33 #6

• B (unverified)

  The whole reason I watch Hulu is the commercials are not as bad as TV. With 9 min worth of commercials, Im gonna probably switch back to channel surf and ovguide

  2.6.2010 03:06 #7