Hulu to test $9.95 subscription fee

well i think people will find another way around, just by going to another site to find free shows but it still cheaper than paying for cable

 

Just in from next year: What was Hulu again?

 

site where you can watch all the shows on tv without paying for cable, well at least most of them and then some more

 

Yeah, and there was this cool place where you could download music and everyone got together and figured out how to connect to the same server every time instead of a random one and we had hours of fun. Then Napster started charging for it.

 

The networks air their own shows online. Hulu is obsolete already.

 

This post didn't age well.

 

We are past that. I think Dish is making a move to charge people 20 dollars a month to get shows off the net, using the net as the source of shows and television.

We are already ready to dispose of cable and dish to go with the net as the main source of television. Whatever the price we would still save money each month. But not much, since it's already cut down to the point of nothing except reruns on the few channels that are left.

One can argue that paying hulu or something similar per month to watch reruns is not bad when you don't remember the shows.

What we do is go to the local library and borrow a DVD now and then for new content released in the last 12 months. We don't pay anything for it and do not see losses in editing for time alloted and content for some of these shows.

What worries me is that you can fill a whole library with DVD's and all of that will fit onto a book case worth of server class hard drives either hybrid flash or the new flash drives that have no moving parts and last a long time provided the interior parts do not fail to the environment.

We have been downloading for years off the net and managed to fill a dozen terabyte of drives so far. Thankfully we can continue to download where possible and I suppose in time we will have our own library. Everyone is trying to monetize content online beyond advertising banners etc. Subscription is where it's at. Costs will fall when tens of millions join and create a situation where it's going to put cable and dish out pernamently. But that's not going to happen.

The biggest draw for me at the end of day is to bypass American Restrictions on censorship and content and access shows from overseas that have no restrictions on them. Im not talking about dirty stuff, Im talking more towards current event news and so on. When the truck attack happened in Nice and the videos came out onto the internet from those who were there, the coverage from the survivors were more informative than the edited media stuff.

What I am trying to say is this. The Net has been in the last 15 years a good source of material that does not make it to the existing media. The nightly news we see on old style TV and is replayed on Cable etc are obselete. Things happen and videos are out by the dozen, hundreds with the raw unedited, uncut material. When they hanged Saddam, the News only played up until the moment he recited his last testiment, the raw video with the remaining unshown 40 seconds that have him drop and then is stuffed into a bag for burial later that day according to their laws. That was a better video but I recognize that most Americans are too soft to take that kind of reality. Would you not agree? It was closure to see him drop. That is that. Moving on.

Example the recent Tampa accident involving the tanker truck who would not let go his cell phone. There were videos taken by those who were there after the accident while responding to it and it was very much to me a educational situation during the kerfluffle over this wreck.

There is always something good and I think we are in a bright future where material will be available to anyone willing to pay a fee to access it reliably. Whatever it might be. But it cannot be the 20, 40, 70 or 100 plus dollars a month that Cable and Dish etc imposes on people. Enough is enough about that high dollar expense, it's shown to be excessive. And there are the contracts. People sign a contract that goes into 2 years and then find that they have to buy out if they want out for hundreds of dollars. That to me is excessive and contracts are obselete but are still necessary. But not for two years.

So I try to lead by example, I pay for my cell phone service which is a trac phone that averages out to right around 9 dollars a month give or take a little bit that covers my specific needs. I can to to some provider like sprint, att etc and find that they can offer unlimited service for 30 dollars a month flat for a 2 year contract and.... get this.... provide television service directly to the cell phone, Tablet or computer online. Live.

I don't need my dish or cable anymore. Im not sure if I want to watch on a 3 inch screen something I can easily see on a 32 incher that is approaching 12 years old that I bought second hand when the economy crashed causing the over debited rich people to dump it at a pawn shop one day. At the time the retail value was 1000 that year and the shop sold it to me for 200 and change. Now the same television retail in walmart is less than that while a freaking 60 inch 4K television is 1000.

The equiptment needed to go 4K will cost some money and require bigger subscription fees. What is going to happen when the Internet staggers under media files that are 4K for complete movies 3 to 4 times the size of blue ray movies? You are into hundreds of gigabytes of data for a show or movie filmed in 4K. That future is here, now. I can run 4K off my computer right here but it takes hours to pull it from the servers. And need to up my internet service speeds to where I can stream 4K from subscription servers like Hulu. That approaches 80 dollars a month. It's easier when I consider that cost similar to a utility.

Or would it be easier to get a laptop that runs 4K, and a wireless built in and go to a coffee shop a block away and ride on that shop's wireless to watch a show or at the college? Rather than paying 80 dollars for net service that to me is fast, private and good.

When I first moved to Arkansas, a basic land line phone was almost 150 dollars a month with LD and international calling. In Maryland where the laws are somewhat different and the telephone system more established longer the same service could be picked up for 30 bucks a month. Throw in Cable, dish, internet, cell phones in particular before they became smart phones... remember those? You are already into media services to the home here in Arkansas for several hundred dollars a month.

Come on fellas and gals, I don't know about you but 10 to 30 dollars a month to unlimited services to your cell, tablet, computer (Which you can transfer it's signal to any large screen television now) and television over internet services is much better than 15 years ago where hundreds of dollars went out the door.

That would probably be the ultimate benefit for the future upon the death of the old time dinosaurs charging a bunch of money in locked 2 year contracts. You would move towards the 9.99 service on demand.

Im not yet ready to get into that. Despite my monster post. If anyone is still here at the bottom, I also point to the old trucking Park and view, remember that they made a big push to tie in parking spaces nation wide where you can tie into the phone (Dispatchers dont get that number, they already have the cell...) and get your internet, cable services before they went bankrupt?

What buried park and view is literally the empty truckstop at mid day, no one has time to park there while making pickups, deliveries etc. They made a good effort and it's commendable. But what has to happen is to deliver it directly to the truck or boat or plane to you personally while you are on the move. Not sitting in a parking space tied in. I think when I stopped in 2001 Truckers were buying (Particularly owner operators engaged in show business which is pretty secretive and have the money to do so) the round domes that would take whatever content offered off the satellite in real time as well as uploading to the net and connect in real time. I thought it was wonderful.

Now we are fixing to send the same thing to the cell phone in your pocket, theoratically transfer that signal from the cell to a large screen television if you like. To you specifically. Not to the truck, address of home etc. Im not sure if I want to go ahead and do that just yet. Im still learning.

 

I dumped DISH at home a couple of weeks ago. Went over to PS Vue. $45 a month will all the channels I need. Up to 5 devices are accessible.

 

I found USTVnow.com a pretty cool internet american tv service.Started as free tv for the military.7 of the top primary channels are FREE.You can buy more-28 channels-29$-etc.But the major 7 being free really helps when your'e on the road.I use it when im in Ecuador-my driver is on his 34 n was watching the race today when i called.Cant beat free.Gotta have internet tho.
Just another option thats out there.