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Sarcasm. Hulu has ads while Netflix does not. For me the cost of an ad is far more than $2 a month price difference because I always need to be there when they watch something. Kids watch a lot of the same things over and over. With Netflix I can watch a movie with them the first time and then have a conversation about fiction, and the what the characters did, and if it was the right choice. Then when they watch it again I can ask about it without having to watch it with them. With Hulu I have to see it every time because I have to explain how the ad is attempting to manipulate their emotions to sell a product. Since the ads are constantly appearing, and different ones are being shown, I have to push my message about thinking about what we consume in the media that much harder to compensate for their increased presence.

If it was just me, or my spouse, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. The Disney deal is clearly interested in targeting children with advertising.

I left Hulu last year, but at the time they offered an ad-free version for a few dollars more a month - much better experience.
 
This may be old information, but I thought their pay service was mostly, not completely, ad free. I don't subscribe so I may be wrong.

Wrong - We pay for the "basic" one and watching a 40 minute show will result in almost as many ads as you see on TV, except instead of multiple ads, it is the same ad over and over and over again.
 
I have ad free Hulu. Lacking is DD streaming. It's all in two channel mode so far. HULU for movies just doesn't cut it. You can't experience true 5.1 surround sound.

Hulu for movies is not great. I rarely watch any movies on Hulu, but the few times I browse for movie using the ATV4 Hulu app, the description is very lacking and there is not a place to see the actors.

Netflix on the ATV4 is almost as bad, but they still have a good description for the movies. It is a shame that Netflix did away with the actor info on the ATV4 app.

Both services are better on the ATV3 imo.
 
Between Netflix, Hulu they both have old movies. Why not offer new movies that's out the movie theater.

As of 2016, Netflix has first run cable/steaming rights for all Disney/Marvel/Pixar/Lucasfilms movies. They bought those rights when the prior deal expired with Starz who had it through 2015. THAT was a huge deal and costs Netflix hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Hulu just got the rights to some films in the Disney catalog which really isn't especially notable and happens all the time across the various cable channels/streaming services.
 
Sarcasm. Hulu has ads while Netflix does not. For me the cost of an ad is far more than $2 a month price difference because I always need to be there when they watch something. Kids watch a lot of the same things over and over. With Netflix I can watch a movie with them the first time and then have a conversation about fiction, and the what the characters did, and if it was the right choice. Then when they watch it again I can ask about it without having to watch it with them. With Hulu I have to see it every time because I have to explain how the ad is attempting to manipulate their emotions to sell a product. Since the ads are constantly appearing, and different ones are being shown, I have to push my message about thinking about what we consume in the media that much harder to compensate for their increased presence.

If it was just me, or my spouse, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. The Disney deal is clearly interested in targeting children with advertising.

If it's that big of a deal pay the $2 more on hulu and get the ad-free version. People love to attack Hulu but it is the most current, and I can watch NEW episodes of my favorite shows, ad in (lol) the ad free version and Hulu absolutely destroys Netflix in my opinion. Although it seems like you wouldn't want new content to be available because you'd have to be there.
 
I guess this is good for apple tv owners and the TV app since the TV doesn't have access to the netflix library that also contains Disney Movies.
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I have Hulu and pay for the ad-free service. As some have pointed out, there are still a few shows left that have ads, but very few. I think it maybe just ABC shows that have ads.

Also, the ads are only at the beginning of the show, not throughout.

Afaik, none of the movies have ads.

I think Netflix's service is better, but if there are some shows you want to watch right away, Hulu is clearly better.
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I guess this is true for some, but at least for me, it is still cheaper to get just internet, and pay for a few streaming services.

I know this is not available in every area, but many cable companies offer Internet with a "light" tv package that usually contains a movie channel or two.

For example, Comcast had a Internet plan for 100Mbs downloads for $50. For $5 more, you could add a basic tv service that included HBO for 12 months, for another $5 you could add Showtime for 12 months.

Admittingly I am overpaying for a xfinity package, Hulu and Netflix.

I'd really like to cut the tv portion of my xfinity dependency and go with a $50 plan.

Even with hulu, netflix and a NBA/Sports package I think it'd still be below $100 vs my $140+ monthly package

Oh yeah an kodi to fill in all of the cracks.
 
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Honestly, I think Hulu's real problems aren't ads, but low bitrate 720p video and the lack of HTML5 support.
 
If it's that big of a deal pay the $2 more on hulu and get the ad-free version. People love to attack Hulu but it is the most current, and I can watch NEW episodes of my favorite shows, ad in (lol) the ad free version and Hulu absolutely destroys Netflix in my opinion. Although it seems like you wouldn't want new content to be available because you'd have to be there.

You make a good point about the new content, and for you its probably a good solution. My experience with Hulu however is that you have to be actively engaged with it throughout the season. If I wait until the season is mostly over, heck sometimes only seven episodes in, to start watching something I have found the first few episodes are no longer available for streaming. If I can't watch the first three episodes of a season I'm not going to watch the rest. I personally can't watch TV for myself every week. I just don't have enough personal time. I might get a chance to watch a show once a month, if I'm lucky.

Does Hulu not remove old episodes of the current season anymore? Not to sound unreasonable, but just like how they allow some shows to have ads if they allow some shows to have episodes pulled before the season is over than its not reliable enough.

The purpose of these services it reduce the work of watching TV, and Hulu has had a history of being more difficult than Netflix.
 
Does Hulu not remove old episodes of the current season anymore?

It depends on the shows, some have the whole current season listed.

Both have pros and cons, although I think that Netflix beats out Hulu for the stuff that matters to me. I pay for the premium Netflix account, and the premium Hulu account, so I have both. If I was to cancel one sub today, it would be Hulu, but Hulu is not bad at all.

I think when Hulu lost CW shows, that kind of hurt them a bit. You can watch the 5 current CW shows for free +ads on the ATV4 CW app, but it would have been nice to keep them on Hulu too. The CW app has a lot of ads.

When it comes to original content, I think Netflix is the clear winner, although, I have never watched any Hulu original content, so many I am not being fair. There just has not been anything that I have found interesting enough to watch for Hulu's originals.
 
This is even bigger news when you consider where disney goes espn often follows

ESPN is a tricky service. The public has been asking for it al la cart for years, but we never got it. When I cut the cord it was really hard for me to give up ESPN, but in retrospect I haven't felt like I missed much value not having it. I'm sure their original programming is fine, but I don't give it much thought. Sports Center was a great way to end my day, but all that content can replaced with the internet. That leaves us with live sports. Monday Night Football has been a joke the last few years. The major US sports (NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB) can for the most part be received over the air, if it's a local team, or via a subscription service. All four have a streaming service of some sort, and with the annoyance that is blackouts, you can see most games you want for less than a monthly cable subscription. For US minor sports having ESPN isn't never seemed reliable to me. Whenever I wanted to watch European soccer I could never find the match I wanted, and when I could time zones made me have to shift it anyway. I never feel the same about recorded sports. I just can't get into it. Same situation with motocross.

IF ESPN could resign their deals to allow live streaming...
IF ESPN could get those games to users reliably...
IF ESPN could keep prices reasonable...

I might consider it.

As it is, I'd rather pick the sports I care about and pay just for the season. Honestly, I would rather subscribe to just the teams I want to see from each sport. Considering most leagues charge @ $20 to $30 a month for all games, I'd pay $5 a month to only get my teams content streamed to my house. (EDIT: the wife and I have some different teams we care about, and I would even be willing to pay $5 for each team.) I'd even pay another $5 a month for all of the playoff games. As long as there are no blackouts.

What does ESPN offer than would make their presence matter today?
 
This thread has inspired me to restructure my "tv" setup.

Seriously considering cutting off cable and going with an internet connection / hulu / Netflix / Direct Tv setup.

Oh yeah and Kodi
 
This thread has inspired me to restructure my "tv" setup.

Seriously considering cutting off cable and going with an internet connection / hulu / Netflix / Direct Tv setup.

Oh yeah and Kodi


Even with cable and netflix/hulu I only end up using the cable once every few months (other people actively use it though)
 
Even with cable and netflix/hulu I only end up using the cable once every few months (other people actively use it though)

The part of our cable subscription we actually use the most is the DVR to be honest. I think we'll be fine. We rarely watch a show live unless it's a sports game which I'm still researching on the best way to do that.
 
ESPN is a tricky service. The public has been asking for it al la cart for years, but we never got it. When I cut the cord it was really hard for me to give up ESPN, but in retrospect I haven't felt like I missed much value not having it. I'm sure their original programming is fine, but I don't give it much thought. Sports Center was a great way to end my day, but all that content can replaced with the internet. That leaves us with live sports. Monday Night Football has been a joke the last few years. The major US sports (NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB) can for the most part be received over the air, if it's a local team, or via a subscription service. All four have a streaming service of some sort, and with the annoyance that is blackouts, you can see most games you want for less than a monthly cable subscription. For US minor sports having ESPN isn't never seemed reliable to me. Whenever I wanted to watch European soccer I could never find the match I wanted, and when I could time zones made me have to shift it anyway. I never feel the same about recorded sports. I just can't get into it. Same situation with motocross.

IF ESPN could resign their deals to allow live streaming...
IF ESPN could get those games to users reliably...
IF ESPN could keep prices reasonable...

I might consider it.

As it is, I'd rather pick the sports I care about and pay just for the season. Honestly, I would rather subscribe to just the teams I want to see from each sport. Considering most leagues charge @ $20 to $30 a month for all games, I'd pay $5 a month to only get my teams content streamed to my house. (EDIT: the wife and I have some different teams we care about, and I would even be willing to pay $5 for each team.) I'd even pay another $5 a month for all of the playoff games. As long as there are no blackouts.

What does ESPN offer than would make their presence matter today?

The SEC network
 
The SEC network

Is there no other way to watch college ball? I don't watch it because I can't follow the seemingly bizarre rules and playoffs. I might try and watch some of my college's games, if I had access to better commentary, but I'm not sure if I would pay for it. I can get free tickets to my current school if I really wanted to go to a game, otherwise they are broadcast OTA.

I have a lot of friends that are die hard for their Alma Mater, so I get that the sentiment exists. What would you do to see the games if you lost SEC?
 
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Is there no other way to watch college ball? I don't watch it because I can't follow the seemingly bizarre rules and playoffs. I might try and watch some of my college's games, if I had access to better commentary, but I'm not sure if I would pay for it. I can get free tickets to my current school if I really wanted to go to a game, otherwise they are broadcast OTA.

I have a lot of friends that are die hard for their Alma Mater, so I get that the sentiment exists. What would you do to see the games if you lost SEC?

I would be forced to go out in public and find a sportsbar.
 
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