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CBS and ABC Prepping Free Ad-Supported Video for iPad While Hulu Considers Subscription Option

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The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that both ABC and CBS are preparing to deploy free, ad-supported streaming of their television content to the iPad, with CBS planning to utilize browser-based streaming while ABC will deliver its content through a standalone application that has already appeared in the App Store.
By Saturday, CBS plans to have full episodes of the reality series "Survivor" ready for an iPad-specific version of its CBS.com Web site. It also plans to offer promotional clips of several other shows, including crime-solving drama "The Mentalist" and sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."

"We're working very hard to make as much of it available as possible," Neil Ashe, president of CBS Interactive, said in an interview. "Over time, it'll be the same as online."
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The report notes that episode streaming from the networks will serve to sidestep Apple's iTunes Store, where users can purchase commercial-free episodes of their favorite television shows. Apple has reportedly been urging networks to reduce iTunes pricing for their shows to $0.99 in order to stimulate demand, but the networks have resisted such encouragement, and today's report claims that a number of media companies have rejected the idea. It reportedly remains unclear whether any company will adopt the reduced pricing by the iPad's launch on Saturday.

Meanwhile, The New York Times repeats claims that Hulu is considering bringing its content to the iPad in the form of paid subscriptions.
Mr. Kilar declined to talk about any future Hulu products, but he waxed enthusiastic about the coming wave of ultra-portable tablet computers like the iPad.

"Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office," he said. Tablets, he added, "allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house."
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A February report indicated that Hulu was pursuing non-Flash technologies for bringing its content to the iPad, with subsequent claims noting that such an offering would likely be subscription-based.

Article Link: CBS and ABC Prepping Free Ad-Supported Video for iPad While Hulu Considers Subscription Option
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/01/cbs-and-abc-prepping-free-ad-supported-video-for-ipad-while-hulu-considers-subscription-option/
now this i cant wait for :D

just this and a way to watch discovery channel and im set
 
GAWD its so hard to read news articles on april fools day, i have to double take then decide whether or not this is real, the best april fools day joke would be announcing the new MBP line, would be soo mean ahahah
 
Yes, it's unfortunate that so much new information is coming out today. But I tend to believe this article.

I would gladly throw some money to Hulu for the opportunity to view that content on my iPad. Not many things in life are free. Everything has some cost.
 
the potential ramifications here is huge...

Comcast will own 30% of Hulu. If Hulu becomes your new "cable" offering and basically the youtube of paid shows..where i can get mostly all shows for $30-$40 a month...boom ill subscribe in a second.

meanwhile CBS and ABC show that for the meanwhile. they still want to try on their own, but if anything really takes off...i dont see any benefit in having to post shows on cbs.com.

you can imagine apple would rather be the "youtube" and not let comcast/disney/and fox be the "youtube" but whatever.
 
Mr. Kilar declined to talk about any future Hulu products, but he waxed enthusiastic about the coming wave of ultra-portable tablet computers like the iPad.

"Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office," he said. Tablets, he added, "allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house."

Right. Because you can't take a netbook outside the living room, or out of the house for that matter. :rolleyes:
 
...and we here in Ireland (and Europe) will still have no option but to go buy DVDs, even though twice as many people live in Europe as the USA. :mad:
 
The end of your local TV affiliate is coming to an end.:eek: Apps like these and the new broadband plan are turning TV stations into the newspapers of the 1990's.
 
If this article is true, and there is a part of me that is skeptical since today is 4/1, then it truly is the beginning of the end for Flash to be a major player on online video content. Flash will still be around for many other uses, but for what this article suggests, it's over as far as video delivery is concerned.
 
iOrlando said:
the potential ramifications here is huge...

Comcast will own 30% of Hulu. If Hulu becomes your new "cable" offering and basically the youtube of paid shows..where i can get mostly all shows for $30-$40 a month...boom ill subscribe in a second.
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If enough channels were on board that one could get the shows one follows for a reasonable price, and each person or family could just buy the shows they want and ditch the expensive cable TV subscription, wow, that could be a game-changer. Maybe force the cable companies to change their subscription model.

The trouble, I think, will be getting the large number of cable networks on board.
 
Let me count the cost

Ok - so I have to pay:

$70 for Comcast internet.
$48 for Comcast cable - no DVR. ( if I don't get the cable, Comcast ups internet stand-alone to $95, with taxes, it's almost the same amount )
$1000 for the laptop I watch Hulu on and stream to my TV

Now an extra
$500 minimum for an iPad - It would be more since I would get a 3g
$15 minimum per month for iPad 3g
$XX amount per month extra for Hulu

There has to be a better way to watch the shows I want, when I want, where I want.
 
Apple is probably allowing these "free network apps" in the app store for a limited time. Kind of a test to show the networks that demand is there for mobile content. I say by June when the Network Apps (NBC, ABC, CBS,FOX) are still the most downloaded free apps, Jobs will have the subscription plan in place and yank these free apps from the store.

Apple is Hustling! :D
 
What I do is I have a media center PC that records TV shows from my cable, only the major channels such as NBC, ABC, etc. Only my Cable DVR can record the paid/premium channels like ( Food Channel, CNN, etc). I convert the shows from media center to mp4, and sync with itunes. Its not a perfect solution, but most of the shows I watch are on NBC, ABC, etc. If I really want to watch a cable show on my iPhone, I have a Hava stream box that lets me record from the cablebox, and export to iTunes. Its a pain to do that since I can't watch anything else on my TV while I'm recording, but I'll do it if I really want to get something onto my iPhone, like Caprica that's on Syfy channel.
 
So which method of watching shows would use the least amount of battery... via the web (cbs) or via an app (abc)?
 
*LTD* said:
Mr. Kilar declined to talk about any future Hulu products, but he waxed enthusiastic about the coming wave of ultra-portable tablet computers like the iPad.

"Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office," he said. Tablets, he added, "allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house."

Right. Because you can't take a netbook outside the living room, or out of the house for that matter. :rolleyes:
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When are you going to realize nobody cares about netbooks. At least not in here, so stop trollin. The iPad is going to make the netbook obsolete, give it some time.
 
sishaw said:
If enough channels were on board that one could get the shows one follows for a reasonable price, and each person or family could just buy the shows they want and ditch the expensive cable TV subscription, wow, that could be a game-changer. Maybe force the cable companies to change their subscription model.

The trouble, I think, will be getting the large number of cable networks on board.
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well dont forget the major players, viacom, NBC, ABC own quite a few of the cable channels that you probably already enjoy. so it might not as hard as you think.

if you have the 10-20 biggest cable channels go ahead with this, the others will be forced to follow it.

you wont keep your cable bill just to see TNT and Comedy Central.
 
jsbaugh said:
When are you going to realize nobody cares about netbooks. At least not in here, so stop trollin. The iPad is going to make the netbook obsolete, give it some time.
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When are you going to realize he is playing an April Fools joke? Go look at his posts BEFORE today.
 
I'm hoping this leads to a free streaming ap (Netflix, Hulu, Major Networks) for my AppleTV! :)
 
So, in review: Since the iPad was announced, the price of ebooks are rising from $9.99 to $12-$14, and Hulu is likely to be subscription based.

Now, both those things were probably to happen over time (especially Hulu), but the iPad definitely helped to speed the increased pricing. Gee, thanks.
 
If this were true, and the free services did replace the content on iTunes, I would be quite pissed. I have no objection to free content as long as I have the choice to download commercial free content for my Apple TV.

PS. This was a good April 1 prank. It had me going for about 30 seconds.
 
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