When it comes to entertainment in front of the 'idiot box', or the TV as we all have come to know and love, there are a whole lot more options today compared to the past. Back then, even with the jump from black-and-white to full Technicolor, the number of channels could be easily gone through with just a few flips of the remote control. Fast forward to the past decade until now, and the picture is a startlingly different one. There are hundreds and hundreds of channels, and modern day TVs have also become smart in their very own right, where you can even download and install apps.
Of course, the advent of faster and faster (as well as more affordable) Internet connectivity has resulted in TVs being the main choice of entertainment in many living rooms. A wide pipe allows plenty of data to come through in double quick time, and this has resulted in streaming video. Basically, one gets to enjoy Video-On-Demand, and Hulu is one such entity that offers streaming TV.
Hulu happens to be a streaming TV service that has several owners -- and many of them are major broadcasters. As the adage goes, all good things must come to an end, and the same applies for Hulu's ad-supported streaming service. This free tier of viewing will be done and dusted with, and for those who have already been hooked, there is one way out of it -- with a paid subscription, of course.
Yahoo, however, might offer some bit of respite as the once major tour de force in the Internet world has announced a spanking new streaming service which is known as "Yahoo View". Yahoo View is said to boast of Hulu, where viewers can then check out the five most recent episodes of the big broadcast shows without having to fork out a single cent. In other words, you would have most of the choices available albeit in different places, and these will have already been paid for by an alternate bunch of folks in corporate suits and ties.
Hulu is partly owned by the likes of Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, Comcast, and of course, Time Warner, in the latest boardroom moves last week. All of the above mentioned companies would like to make use of Hulu as a kind of hedge against Netflix, as they put forward content and would like to go up against one another to peddle their wares for both time and consumer dollars. With Hulu ending up with a subscription-only model, it would enable all of the different co-owners to position their offerings as a premium service which will carry original content.
This would mean having to offload its lowest margin ad-supported streaming to Yahoo. By taking this route where Hulu's ownership is concerned, it further lowers the potential sore points with its very own TV advertisers. Not only that, Verizon's bottom line might look better as well, as the mobile service provider recently picked up Yahoo, and this move might just see Verizon rake in substantial revenue down the road. A win-win situation for all, don't you think so?
