Hulu drops cost of ad-based tier, but hikes Live TV option to $44.99
Hulu on Wednesday announced significant changes to its pricing schemes, making it cheaper to get in the door of the streaming service, but more expensive for access to Live TV.
An ad-supported on-demand plan is dropping from $7.99 to $5.99 on Feb. 26. The No Ads plan will remain at $11.99, but Live TV is rising from $39.99 to $44.99 per month, making it definitively pricier than options like Sling TV or YouTube TV. Customers can go a step further with a No Ads/Live TV bundle costing $50.99.
To compensate somewhat, Hulu is reducing its Enhanced Cloud DVR and Unlimited Screens add-ons from $14.99 to $9.99, and offering them together for $14.98.
Hulu said the Live TV hike is justified by the addition of more channels in the past year, as well as technology upgrades including more compatible devices.
Conversely, lowering the entry fee may be a way of capturing people from Netflix, typically considered the leader in on-demand streaming. The company recently raised prices for its Standard and Premium subscriptions, hoping that its original shows and movies are enough of a draw to keep people paying.
Apple is poised to introduce its own video streaming service sometime this year, with over $1 billion invested in original programming. Initially it may make first-party shows free to watch on its hardware, counting on subscriptions to outside services to make money.
In the long term Apple is allegedly pursuing "tentpole" shows that could prop up a paid-only plan. That may be a challenge if it doesn't abandon family-friendly content rules -- one of the appeals of services like Netflix or Hulu is the ability to watch uncensored content.
An ad-supported on-demand plan is dropping from $7.99 to $5.99 on Feb. 26. The No Ads plan will remain at $11.99, but Live TV is rising from $39.99 to $44.99 per month, making it definitively pricier than options like Sling TV or YouTube TV. Customers can go a step further with a No Ads/Live TV bundle costing $50.99.
To compensate somewhat, Hulu is reducing its Enhanced Cloud DVR and Unlimited Screens add-ons from $14.99 to $9.99, and offering them together for $14.98.
Hulu said the Live TV hike is justified by the addition of more channels in the past year, as well as technology upgrades including more compatible devices.
Conversely, lowering the entry fee may be a way of capturing people from Netflix, typically considered the leader in on-demand streaming. The company recently raised prices for its Standard and Premium subscriptions, hoping that its original shows and movies are enough of a draw to keep people paying.
Apple is poised to introduce its own video streaming service sometime this year, with over $1 billion invested in original programming. Initially it may make first-party shows free to watch on its hardware, counting on subscriptions to outside services to make money.
In the long term Apple is allegedly pursuing "tentpole" shows that could prop up a paid-only plan. That may be a challenge if it doesn't abandon family-friendly content rules -- one of the appeals of services like Netflix or Hulu is the ability to watch uncensored content.
Comments
It's only a matter of time before they look and price like cable companies.
http://www.aftvnews.com/imdb-freedive-is-amazons-new-free-ad-supported-movie-and-tv-streaming-service/
Any service that offers CNN as part of a subscription won’t get my money.
The Hulu Live TV service is something I might be interested in, but there are currently much more affordable options. $44.99 a month? No thanks.
I watch Hulu far more than I do any of the other services and pay extra for no commercials, because commercials suck. I am surprised to see them raising prices, however, when DTV Now is already less expensive and comes with DVR, and is the only service that carries all the local network channels.
I went over to a friend's house to watch the NFL playoff games (did not want to go!) And the interminable commercials were insufferable.
I kept saying to my friend, "couldn't they just 'steal' our data and not do so many commercials?"
The terrorists don't have to bomb us, they just have to build more fast food restaurants!
Best.
In addition, in thenpast i would start a series, but it woukd disappear from Netflix before I finished it. It prompted me to sometimes must buy the dvd set (usually lightly used versions on Amazon marketplace), sometimes after just sampling enough episodes to know it interested me, and surprising to me, having disks ended up being a really good alternative — one that seems easily dismissed or forgotten these days.