21 April 2010

Hulu to start a subcription fee this May

According to a Los Angeles Times report, Hulu, the online video site second only to YouTube in monthly video streams in the U.S., will roll out a subscription service as soon as May 24.

The site will continue to allow users to watch the last five episodes of the series they carry for free. If viewers want to watch beyond that, though, they would have to pay $9.95 per month.

Owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Co., the site has earned more than $100 million in advertising revenue.

Apparently, that is not enough for these media giants, though. Also, it appears that they feel the recent bouts with collecting transmission fees from cable companies such as Time Warner and Cablevision are making it impossible to justify offering the same programming online for free.

Ultimately, the report says, even the few commercials aired on Hulu will increase to match those of network TV.

No comments: