Hulu is committing suicide!

[Ronnie-]

I use Hulu, ad free, a lot. Combined with CBS All Access also ad free, I can watch just about every prime time show without a need to wait for Auto Hop or the Skip Forward button.

My wife uses it in the same way.

These days we get more use out of Hulu than we do Netflix, as I also have the live tv option with them.

 

[harshness]

While everyone else is scrambling to make their apps work on as many platforms as possible these guys are going in the opposite direction and shooting themselves in the foot.

I would be one thing if their parent company had a working alternative but to whack their current service before they have their replacement ready is really, really stupid.

 

[TheForce]

Local Network TV is not a problem for me as I have very high quality signal since I can see the towers 4 miles from the house. I just like the DVR on my VIP722K with two local TV tuners. I rarely watch live. We prefer to watch on time delay so we can skip ahead as desired.

The only reason we had Hulu was for the special programming they offer. But everything on Hulu that we were interested in is also offered on Amazon for additional fee. Currently, I have Showtime on demand and Curiosity add-ons. Amazon, now is offering more content than I get on Dish Network. BUT, it cost for each of those and if I I duplicate Dish on Amazon the billing is about the same. While I have been a very long time customer of Netflix, I would say that if I had to choose just one service, it would be Amazon Prime, mostly for the free shipping and 5% off. But the IPTV is a great bonus to that.

I don't know what Disney will offer but I will take a look at that later in the year. I don't know why Disney would keep Hulu active once their Disney branded IPTV service is up. I suspect all Hulu customers that remain will be crossed over to Disney. I don't think Disney owns 100% of Hulu but they do have 100% control over the company now.

 

[harshness]

Disney always has an eye on what to do with their adult-oriented content (not that their teen content doesn't go well past that on not-so-infrequent occasion).

I can't imagine that Hulu will fill the same niche that it does now and that's unfortunate as things move more and more towards self-sourcing and consolidation.

 

[allargon]

If Netflix start showing 3rd party ads, I think that would spell their doom. They are going to be challenged enough as all of these competitors continue to launch.

Not if they offer the same service at half the cost. Subscription fatigue is real. There are a LOT of people that would rather spend $15/mo for Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix vs $30/mo. Look at all the people here on SatelliteGuys that subscribe to the Flex and Welcome packs vs AE.

 

[ncted]

Not if they offer the same service at half the cost. Subscription fatigue is real. There are a LOT of people that would rather spend $15/mo for Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix vs $30/mo. Look at all the people here on SatelliteGuys that subscribe to the Flex and Welcome packs vs AE.

And how many of them have Hoppers with Autohop enabled? I am not saying you're wrong, but I think Netflix adding commercials at any price point would probably hurt them bad given they headwinds on the content and competition side of things they are already going to be dealing with.

 

[Bobbj]

Unless you’re paying for their premium service it is worthless to have Hulu

 

[JTBenson]

What year is the TV or blu ray player that you have? I would wager it is an issue of age of the device, rather than Hulu dropping support for Samsung products, without seeing the notice that they sent you of course.

Generally, smart TV platforms that dont have roku/fire tv/android built in, will be the first to lose access, and are rarely updated. Which is why I have said many times that they are the least desirable options for long term streaming, even if they may be the simplest in terms of click and watch.

I did a lot of research before I bought a smart tv and that is why I went with RokuTV. It was due to the sheer number of apps available that weren’t available on other TVs.

 

[JTBenson]

I use Hulu, ad free, a lot. Combined with CBS All Access also ad free, I can watch just about every prime time show without a need to wait for Auto Hop or the Skip Forward button.

Same here.

 

[VictoriaFTA]

The real question here is why y'all aren't setting your billing address to a sales tax free state like New Hampshire.

I've never paid taxes on a digital product cuz I'm not dumb enough to use my real address.

Life Protip: If they have nothing physical to ship to you then they have no way of verifying that you don't live in New Hampshire or Alaska...

 

[harshness]

Life Protip: If they have nothing physical to ship to you then they have no way of verifying that you don't live in New Hampshire or Alaska...

Or Oregon. Alaska allows for some rather substantial city sales taxes (up to 7%) so you have to be diligent.

The possible failing in this scheme is if they use your "billing address" to verify your credit card and the addresses don't match what the credit card company expects (since they mail your credit card to you). At that point, the whole dodge may collapse.

 

[Zookster]

No digital sales tax in California (yet). I thought there was supposed to be (some law got passed a few years ago), but I've never seen any taxes charged for my subscriptions to Netflix, YouTube TV, PS Vue, Hulu, HBO Now, CBS All Access, or Starz (to name a few )

 

[VictoriaFTA]

Or Oregon. Alaska allows for some rather substantial city sales taxes (up to 7%) so you have to be diligent.

The possible failing in this scheme is if they use your "billing address" to verify your credit card and the addresses don't match what the credit card company expects (since they mail your credit card to you). At that point, the whole dodge may collapse.

I have found that most places don't verify the full address and still accept the card with a fake billing address but for instances where that fails just buy gift cards for the service elsewhere and only pay with gift cards.

Netflix, Microsoft, Sony, Valve etc. all sell gift cards for their digital services and buying a gift card is a tax free transaction. A gift card does not require a legitimate billing address.

 

[Cheddar_Head]

The real question here is why y'all aren't setting your billing address to a sales tax free state like New Hampshire.

I've never paid taxes on a digital product cuz I'm not dumb enough to use my real address.

Life Protip: If they have nothing physical to ship to you then they have no way of verifying that you don't live in New Hampshire or Alaska...

Not to get political but what you are doing is poor citizenship and in some places can get you thrown in jail. Don't brag about it where a vindictive ex-wife might hear. FYI if you don't pay your taxes that means I have to pay more to make up the difference.

 

[ncted]

Not to get political but what you are doing is poor citizenship and in some places can get you thrown in jail. Don't brag about it where a vindictive ex-wife might hear. FYI if you don't pay your taxes that means I have to pay more to make up the difference.

This is typical the world over. Lots of people seem to think they should be able to get all the services the government provides without actually contributing anything to support said services, just because they found a loophole and (maybe) disagree with how the tax money is spent. It isn't a political thing. It is a human behavior, and a corporate one for that matter.

 

[TVEngineerArk]

Does any tier of Hulu offer better audio options than just 2.0? Last time I checked the basic subscription only has 2.0 audio on everything including movies which is huge drawback as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Bobby]

Does any tier of Hulu offer better audio options than just 2.0? Last time I checked the basic subscription only has 2.0 audio on everything including movies which is huge drawback as far as I'm concerned.

It depends on what device you are using to play Hulu. There are several that allow 5.1 on a lot of Hulu's programming. I have a FireStick 4K that allows it.

 

[ncted]

Yeah, I get 5.1 on my Firestick on certain content.

 

[ncted]

Hulu Live adds ~300,000 customers (according to Craig Moffett, so grain of salt)

https://www.multichannel.com/news/hulu-vmvpd-up-to-2-point-4-million-subs-analyst-says