Hulu is Shutting Down Their Free TV Service
Love Hulu’s free streaming option? Well we have sad news for you… Hulu will begin notifying customers that the free Hulu will shut down over the next few days, and members who have been using the free service that soon it will no longer be available.
“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,” says Ben Smith, Hulu senior vp and head of experience. “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.”
Most of Hulu’s free content has been fairly limited, with just a “rolling five,” or the five most recent episodes of a current show — content that typically becomes available eight days after it airs and is usually also available for free on broadcast networks’ websites. For example, recent episodes of shows like America’s Got Talent and South Park are currently available for free, while Hulu’s slate of originals and high-profile exclusives remain behind the paywall.
The timing of this closer so quickly after the Time Warner deal leaves some to wonder if Hulu’s new owners may have forced this change.
“We’re trying to get the best digital content in front of our users,” says Phil Lynch, Yahoo vp and head of media partnerships, adding that the strategy for View is very different than that of Screen and its focus on clips and other mostly short-form videos. “This is Hulu content. We are the eyeballs and the distribution platform.”
No exact date was announced for when the free version of Hulu will shut down but many expect it to be with in the next few months to even weeks.
- See more at: http://cordcuttersnews.com/hulu-is-shutting-d...Gty0L.dpuf
Love Hulu’s free streaming option? Well we have sad news for you… Hulu will begin notifying customers that the free Hulu will shut down over the next few days, and members who have been using the free service that soon it will no longer be available.
“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,” says Ben Smith, Hulu senior vp and head of experience. “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.”
Most of Hulu’s free content has been fairly limited, with just a “rolling five,” or the five most recent episodes of a current show — content that typically becomes available eight days after it airs and is usually also available for free on broadcast networks’ websites. For example, recent episodes of shows like America’s Got Talent and South Park are currently available for free, while Hulu’s slate of originals and high-profile exclusives remain behind the paywall.
The timing of this closer so quickly after the Time Warner deal leaves some to wonder if Hulu’s new owners may have forced this change.
“We’re trying to get the best digital content in front of our users,” says Phil Lynch, Yahoo vp and head of media partnerships, adding that the strategy for View is very different than that of Screen and its focus on clips and other mostly short-form videos. “This is Hulu content. We are the eyeballs and the distribution platform.”
No exact date was announced for when the free version of Hulu will shut down but many expect it to be with in the next few months to even weeks.
- See more at: http://cordcuttersnews.com/hulu-is-shutting-d...Gty0L.dpuf
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