Earlier this week TorrentFreak pointed out how Fox's decision to delay the availability of their shows for free online viewing had already resulted in more piracy.
As of last week, the free streams for Fox shows aren't available on Hulu until 8 days after they air. Instead, they are only available to Hulu Plus or Dish Network subscribers.
Fox is also working on other pay TV providers. Fox Television senior vice president Scott Grogin told The Hollywood Reporter:
We are actively in negotiations with all cable/satellite/telco providers regarding authentication of their customers. We hope to announce several more agreements before the start of the new television season in mid-September.
He also claims the network is, "pursuing a strategy where the 90+ million households who pay to watch our programming via cable/satellite/telco will ultimately receive maximum benefit."
Of course that doesn't address TorrentFreak's point at all, which was delaying official online releases drives people to piracy.
Besides, suggesting this policy maximizes anything except viewer annoyance is laughable. Fox isn't giving pay TV customers anything they didn't already have. Instead they're trying to take it away from everyone else.
Of course Fox executives already know all this. Unauthorized options, from file sharing to YouTube uploads, are the entire reason Hulu exists at all.
At the time Hulu was launched by News Corp and NBC Universal, the goal was to convert unauthorized viewers who generated no revenue for Fox Network and NBC into authorized viewers generating ad revenue.
The problem is Fox's paranoia that authorized video streams will compete with cable, satellite & other subscription services. The unauthorized sources compete with those services already, which means any successful alternative will have to do the same.
Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 24 Aug 2011 16:58
