Hulu Ends Free Streaming, Will Shift Free Service To Yahoo View

Hulu will shift away from the free streaming service that brought many of its subscribers to the company in the first place. Many of the shows that were previously available to stream via the free, ad-supported Hulu model will now be available on Yahoo View.

Hulu will shift to an all-subscription model. The company has two tiers of subscription models available; $7.99 per month with limited commercials and $11.99/month for commercial-free streaming.

Yahoo View will continue to show episodes of popular shows currently airing on ABC, NBC and FOX. Users will have access to the five most recent episodes from each series. New episodes will become available eight days after the original air date. Select other shows will also be available as will clips of shows and full seasons of anime and Korean dramas.

Yahoo View is now up an running at View.Yahoo.com, while the free streaming on Hulu will be phased out in the next month or so.

Variety has a good article about Hulu’s move with quotes from Ben Smith, Hulu’s senior vice president and head of experience. They also take a look at why Hulu is making this move. The company, which is owned by Disney, 21st Century Fox, Comcast and Time Warner, is attempting to ween people off the idea that their favorite network shows can be seen for free.

Karl Bode at Tech Dirt thinks Hulu is ending its free model too early and that moves like this, coupled with exclusivity agreements will drive those interested in watch shows to get them illegally wherever they can. Seeking Alpha thinks they move by Hulu makes them more of a competitor Netflix needs to watch out for. Will Oremus of Slate maintains that Hulu succeeded in moving viewers away from the idea of “free tv” and conditioned them to think it is something they need to pay for.

What do you think? Will you pay for Hulu or will you get your fix via Yahoo View?

Featured photo courtesy of Hulu.

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