Hulu for iPad Likely to Be a Paid Subscription Service

[scroto]

Way to go Apple, way to take something that's free and charge people for it because you're a greedy vindictive pos company. It's going to cost a fortune to have any kind of functionality on this device. Job's can take his gimped pos giant ipod and shove up his @$$. He's going end up screwing everybody PC and Mac with his greed, I wish he would just go away and die already.

 

[Hmac]

BTW...I would think that the point of charging for content would be to not have any commercials.

I mean, the shows I subscribe to on AppleTV/iTunes don't come with commercials. I wouldn't pay for them if they came loaded with commercials.

I agree. However, what if Apple dropped the per-episode price in exchange for "limited" commercials? That's one question that could come up in the future...if they dropped the price to $1.00, would you accept a commercial or two? How about $.50?

 

[Hmac]

Way to go Apple, way to take something that's free and charge people for it because you're a greedy vindictive pos company. It's going to cost a fortune to have any kind of functionality on this device. Job's can take his gimped pos giant ipod and shove up his @$$. He's going end up screwing everybody PC and Mac with his greed, I wish he would just go away and die already.

Apple didn't do it, Hulu is doing it.

 

[Bemopti123]

True Apple Fanboi's will be lining up front and center to drink more of the iPad kool aid and pay for the ultra special edition Hulu subscription package.

You should see the hate spewed at anyone on this forum who dares question the iPad as anything less than utter brilliance. Oh yeah, and the true fanbois also get right behind Uncle Steve in trashing Adobe Flash despite its near ubiquitous presence on the web.

I might be considered an Apple crusade, I have got 3 Apple PC, 2 older 2005 models and 1 2009 MacBook Pro, I have also advocated for about 4 people to get their MacMinis as the main computer set ups. I have bought a total of 4 Ipod/Itouch/Iphone combos and currently have at least 4 Ipod/Iphone combos, but I will be not deluded to think that the Ipad is worth much more than just a standard Ebook reader. The price ratio for what is provides or mostly lacks to provide is uncomfortably close to a low end MacBook and the like and if you just add a wireless card dongle to give you mobile broadband, it will do Flash and some other stuff much better than the Pad.

So flame me people all you want, for not saying that the Ipad is a game changer, it is too expensive to have many people adopting it and I am thinking about the fragility of the units on the go. I am not payin' not friggin' cents more for questionable, unreliable 3G service that has been so emasculated due to AT&T craptacular networks. You have to call it what it is, people have got to get real.

Moreover, the idea of "carrying" 200 books on a Ipad for vacation? What kind of nonsense is that, people can barely read a book on Summer vacation somewhere, but carrying 200 books that have been paid for, no sense whatsoever. Nevertheless, if they have $$$$$ to burn, be welcome, in these economic times not too many people will have that sort of money to burn.

I buy my books, physically, through either used or super discounted prices from Amazon, I got no regrets about it.

 

[Stella]

Why are people surprised - the iPad is all about paid content? ( With free Apps from AppStore )

iPad is designed to be a revenue stream for content providers - otherwise, why would they ( content providers ) bother?

 

[wikoogle]

Yaaay!

Thank you Apple for looking out for us and not including Flash. Now we get to pay another monthly subscription fee to use Hulu instead of being able to just load up our Safari browser.

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

Way to go Apple, way to take something that's free and charge people for it because you're a greedy vindictive pos company. It's going to cost a fortune to have any kind of functionality on this device. Job's can take his gimped pos giant ipod and shove up his @$$. He's going end up screwing everybody PC and Mac with his greed, I wish he would just go away and die already.

I don't wish anyone to die...

But it would be great for everyone if he would just retire asap

If he retires now, everyone will remember him as greatest guy in computer industry ever. However, if he stays few more years, with such attitude he currently has... hmmm... my feeling is that he will go down rather badly which would be such a shame for such an awesome guy

 

[AgingGeek]

if its gonna be ad free then a subscription makes sense, otherwise you're paying for something free on a laptop with ads... hulu fail!

Yeah, let's put this in historical perspective.

In the OLD days, TV was FREE. You put up your rabbit ears, and watched the major networks. It was FREE, because they paid for it by selling ADS. You put up with the ADS because if was FREE.

Then cable came along. You pay for cable, but you get arguably much better reception (and more channels). But here, you're paying for the delivery service, NOT the content! There are still ADS to pay for the CONTENT.

Now, they want you to PAY for a cable internet connection, then PAY to receive the content, and have somebody else pay for the ADS that you'll have tolerate.

FUGGETABOUTIT!

ETA: These days, I'm just seeing the same shows as were on in the 60's/70's anyway. They have different actors...

 

[Bellison]

This is bullsh*t!

I ain't gon pay no moolah for Hulu on my iPad! This is bullsh*t!!!

Hulu can go fu*k itself!

 

[Scarpad]

Anyone who thought that the Ipad was'nt a platform for delivering content that was going to cost you money , was a fool. It's all about paying for content, that what the root of itunes is all about, eventually that will extend to magazine, books and other stuff. No one is forcing you to pay for Hulu or Itunes stores videos. If you don't want to pay, but the DVD, Rip it and put it on there yourself. Unfortunately other content like mags and books you won't have any choice. But really why would you expect to get this type of content for free? Do you walk into a Convienience store and walk out with a magazine without paying for it? Or a newspapr or book. C'mon people obviously moving content to a subscription model is where the industry is heading, apple is no different.

 

[Bellison]

No, but it's possible to get a really cheap subscription to any magazine on ebay for a few dollars a year. Why would anyone in their right mind pay full retail price? Idiots.....

Anyone who thought that the Ipad was'nt a platform for delivering content that was going to cost you money , was a fool. It's all about paying for content, that what the root of itunes is all about, eventually that will extend to magazine, books and other stuff. No one is forcing you to pay for Hulu or Itunes stores videos. If you don't want to pay, but the DVD, Rip it and put it on there yourself. Unfortunately other content like mags and books you won't have any choice. But really why would you expect to get this type of content for free? Do you walk into a Convienience store and walk out with a magazine without paying for it? Or a newspapr or book. C'mon people obviously moving content to a subscription model is where the industry is heading, apple is no different.

 

[cmaier]

Way to go Apple, way to take something that's free and charge people for it because you're a greedy vindictive pos company. It's going to cost a fortune to have any kind of functionality on this device. Job's can take his gimped pos giant ipod and shove up his @$$. He's going end up screwing everybody PC and Mac with his greed, I wish he would just go away and die already.

Um. You think Apple has any say in this?

 

[mingoglia]

I ain't gon pay no moolah for Hulu on my iPad! This is bullsh*t!!!

Hulu can go fu*k itself!

x2. What you're going to find is more and more software based DVR's that will record content off your home Cable/HD receiver and stream your "own" content to your own personal iPad device. Honestly with DVR technology I don't mind the commercials as they're extremely easy to fast forward through.

 

[zweigand]

I love watching people who don't know a damn thing about what is actually going to take place argue as if their lives depend on it.

If Hulu can give me commercial free shows for a small fee …sign me up. Especially if they include other devices like my Roku in the deal.

 

[WhySoSerious]

The iPad is a joke.

The only reason it exists is to sucker gullible people into thinking they are getting a cool "tablet" type device when in reality, it's just a virtual shopping cart.....nothing more.....not even by a little margin.

Apple creates a virtual shopping cart; developers/media all start charging for things left and right; idiotic consumers buy into it and drain their pocketbooks while the smart consumers save their cash and pass up on the iPa-thetic.

 

[alent1234]

I love watching people who don't know a damn thing about what is actually going to take place argue as if their lives depend on it.

If Hulu can give me commercial free shows for a small fee …sign me up. Especially if they include other devices like my Roku in the deal.

back in the 1980's cable TV also promised commercial free television since it was a pay service. everyone knows how that turned out

 

[anubis]

You're all smoking dope if you think a monthly subscription to Hulu is going to be less than $5 a month. It's going to be at least $20

 

[dukebound85]

BTW...I would think that the point of charging for content would be to not have any commercials.

I mean, the shows I subscribe to on AppleTV/iTunes don't come with commercials. I wouldn't pay for them if they came loaded with commercials.

you (or most people) pay for tv service and that has commercials

 

[nagromme]

Depends on the price I guess—ad removal has some value to me, as does the programming.

However, my big home screen will always be the MAIN way I watch Hulu, with iPad/iPhone being secondary methods which I’d like to be able to use occasionally. So I’d actually be more likely to pay for, say, Caprica on my home iMac than on my iPad or iPhone.

Or a premium deal with more content—regardless of platform—could be acceptable at the right price (and with the right content). So you could watch the free stuff anywhere, watch the paid stuff anywhere. Don’t make distinguish one device from another. Hulu logins provide a simple way to track who has paid for premium.

I don’t buy cable because I can get the cable shows I want for free on Hulu. I don’t expect Hulu (or those show’s creators) to go unpaid, and if online advertising doesn’t cover it, then so be it. There may need to be some paid element. But this sounds like the wrong route.

(As for “mobile” vs. non-mobile, if 3G is the key factor, and they don’t have the rights or whatever, then just let us watch on WiFi at least. How many iPad owners really need 3G enough to buy those models anyway? At first, only a fraction I’d guess.)

 

[Antares]

True. But most people aren't made of money. I agree that the networks (who have plenty of money) are simply sucking their viewers dry. Here's what I think would be a much more agreeable solution: keep Hulu free -- but with low-bandwidth YouTube quality and ads. Have subscriptions available for people who would get the same content in true HD and without ads. After all, that's what subscriptions are supposed to be for: premium content. Then everyone is happy. People who want free TV get it, but just not at the same quality as the subscribers.

I agree. But Hulu would need to increase the amount of ads that the current "free" Hulu has. As it is, Hulu is not making enough money off of current ad revenue to sustain operations of a "free service," indefinitely. Your suggestion of a low quality ad laden free version of Hulu plus a premium, paid subscription, HD, ad-free version would be great. Though, I suspect they would stand to make the most money off of a subscription service than the version with ad revenue.

Many people (especially younger people) have become spoiled by the early free content cornucopia of the web. What they don't realize is that someone has to pay for it. Free isn't sustainable. If you consume (legally), you will eventually need to pay....be it money directly out of your pocket or being forced to sit through a deluge of persistent ads (by "persistent" I mean, ads you can't ignore, skip past or block).

 

[betaboy78]

I would totally be up for a 'tiered service' from Hulu. Maybe $10-15/month that will include commercial free 720p content from your Mac or PC and unlimited commercial free 'mobile device' viewing, too.

I would think it would be rather easy to implement. HTML5 for 'paying customers', Flash for 'free customers'. Everyone wins. People can keep watching the current Hulu content just the way they are, but those who are willing to pay extra, could be offered a higher quality and/or portable experience.

What do you think?

 

[captmatt]

I'd Pay

I'd pay about $20/month. Even with the ads at the current level. I don't think the few ads in a show intrude too much.

I'm glad they're not going with flash. I hacked my ATV to work with Hulu. Even though it improved over time, it still was a little choppy.

I ended up getting a Mac Mini to get Hulu on the TV set. The special Mac interface is great because I just need the Apple Remote to control it. I'd even pay for it at this point because I depend upon it to supplement my antenna. (I no long have cable).

If the $20/month covered a full subscription across my devices then that'd be perfect. I pay an extra $5/month to get my Sirius on my Sonos (sometimes I just want to relax and let a professional set the playlist.) Then I pay $5/month to get Napster on my Sonos so I can have a massive music library. (Napster on Iphone would be perfect.) So I pay $30/month for my music.

Next, I pay $20/month for Netflix which I also get on the TV through the Mac Mini (or XBox and DVD mailing).

So, for $50/month, I no longer purchase CDs or DVDs. I used to spend more than that on discs. So that $50/month covers my old physical media budget.

Now, the $20/month for Hulu would cover my old $70/month cable television budget and the TV is portable (seems using Hulu native on the device would be more flexible than Slingbox.)

 

[goobot]

i see piracy rate about to go up

 

[leontief]

But really why would you expect to get this type of content for free? Do you walk into a Convienience store and walk out with a magazine without paying for it? Or a newspapr or book. C'mon people obviously moving content to a subscription model is where the industry is heading, apple is no different.

This. What made everybody think that mainline content would always be free on the internet. The only reason it was for a while was demographics. Only the young with no spending power looked at stuff on the internet so who cares. Well now there is a broader spectrum of people on the net who are using it as their primary content provider (see declining TV viewership, magazine/news subscriptions)

Content costs money, and it should everybody, otherwise you have eliminated yet another opportunity for individuals to earn a reasonably good wage.

 

[leontief]

No, but it's possible to get a really cheap subscription to any magazine on ebay for a few dollars a year. Why would anyone in their right mind pay full retail price? Idiots.....

Magazine subscription rates barely cover the cost of shipping and some printing, the ads pay for everything else.

Those ads you do not want to see in your Hulu.