Hulu Ending Free Streaming Service

Hulu Ends Free Streaming Service »

Hulu is moving to an all-subscription model, eliminating the ad-supported service that has let users watch thousands of TV episodes in the nine years since it first launched.

At the same time, Hulu has expanded its distribution deal with Yahoo, which is launching Yahoo View, a new ad-supported TV-streaming site with the five most recent episodes of shows from ABC, NBC and Fox — eight days after original air date — as well as other network shows, day-after clips, and full seasons of anime and Korean drama series. The free Hulu service will be phased out over the next few weeks.

The moves come less than a week after Time Warner announced that it is paying $583 million to take a 10% stake in Hulu, joining existing owners Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast.​

 

Are they keeping their Hulu Plus plans of $7.99/month (limited commercials), and $11.99/month (no commercials)?

 

I looked at paid Hulu, and as soon as I realized that $7.99/month only got me WITH commercial viewing, I was done.

I pay $10/month for cable and use my DVR and I'm way happier.

 

Yes indeed.

 

Thanks, Brad!

 

Ridiculous.

 

I've never watched.

So...I just checked it out on hulu.com

I saw a dealy for one week free ! So...I clicked...and it brought me to a page that showed $7.99 with commercials and $11.99 commercial free. So...thinking heck it's free...clicked on the commercial free/$11.99 choice. Took me to a page to sign up thru Facebook ! What ? What if I don't have a Facebook ? Not sure if there's another way...but to sucker someone into "trying it for free", only to give them personal information..maybe even a credit/debit card hoping you'll forget and they can stick it to you.....BAD BUSINESS !!!

I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole or even my fake facebook account !

 

Believe me...those few extra bucks for no commercials are worth it...unless you want to sit through 12-15 commercial breaks per show.

 

I was hesitant to spend the extra $4 per month, but after living with it for several months, I don't feel that way anymore! I've watched 335 out of 366 episodes of Bleach, and the last 120 or so ALONE sans commercials has made it all worth it.

I *HATED* spending $7.99/month for commercials, and was ready to pull the plug for good until they came up with the $11.99 commercial-free plan. I'd have used it from the start if it had been available.

 

Plus all of their Criterion content will be gone in a few months.

 

We've been on the $11.99 plan for a while. I'd pull the plug on Netflix before I'd pull it on Hulu at this point.

 

These guys have it all figured out. We all thought we were being smart by dumping cable and going with streaming services. In another five years, to subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon is going to be right back to dishing out $70 a month for the same crap we got bored of paying for in the first place.

 

Hulu with no commercials at $11.99 is very much worth it IMO. I switched from the $7.99 plan within a couple of weeks of the ad free offering and have never regretted it.

 

Anyone else having issues
with the new format?

 

[QUOTE="OnTheRoad, post:Took me to a page to sign up thru Facebook ![/QUOTE]

This is what kills it for me. I don’t like being told I have to sign up for Facebook to get or see something!

 

We are getting ready to cut the cord and signed up for the new live package last night. Quality looked good but there was a lot of refreshing. I blame that more on my internet speed which I will be upgrading with the cancel of the tv.

 

I'm on a free trial for Hulu right now. Ends in another 14 days or so. The free trial is with commercials. I don't think the $4 a month extra for no-commercials is unreasonable, especially given the clunky way they are integrated into shows. But for some reason I get only stereo sound on everything. I can't seem to find a setting for 5.1 audio. On most TV shows this is no big deal, but I started watching the Star Trek (2009) movie and the opening space battle in stereo only just seems very anemic. Do they not offer 5.1 audio for anything? I'm using the Hulu app on my Vizio TV. I get 5.1 audio if I stream content from Vudu or Amazon on the same setup, so I don't think its a connection issue.

I found the support page on hulu.com but didn't find this addressed. I started a chat with them, but its a 30 minute wait, and I don't see an option to just send a message. So hoping someone here can clear this up for me.

Edit: think I found my answer. I found a "hulu Community" support page on their site, with a fair amount of posts on a thread about how they don't offer 5.1 audio. Kind of unfathomable that they don't offer this as this point, but maybe they only design their system for tablets, phones and laptops.

 

Well, you only got two ears!