In a surprising announcement, Hulu has announced it will end its free streaming service, but users don’t need to fully worry. Hulu itself will become a subscription based service with no more free model through their website. Instead, they have entered into a distribution deal with Yahoo, who will be launching an ad-supported TV streaming site called Yahoo View.
Yahoo View will essentially takeover Hulu’s free model and offer viewers the five most recent episodes of shows coming from ABC, NBC and Fox. The episodes will become available for users eight days after the original episode airs live.
Time Warner recently announced their $583 million purchase for a 10% stake in Hulu, jumping on board with other existing owners such as Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast. Hulu’s big calling card was offering a place to watch network television shows online for free, but the service has slowly moved towards other ways to gain subscriptions and wants to become more exclusive like Amazon or Netflix. For the company to better compete with these two competitors, it makes the most sense for them to move to a full subscription based service.
The move by Hulu means that now they only offer a $7.99 per month model with commercials and an $11.99 per month model that includes no ads at all. On top of this, with the rush for streaming services to begin pumping out more original and exclusive content, it tightens up what their service offers over the rest.
Meanwhile the move also helps Yahoo, who is being acquired by Verizon for $4.8 billion. Yahoo has been improving their online video platform and the addition of ad based network shows only increases their value. The new site can be found at www.view.yahoo.com, which is currently available in the U.S. with mobile web and mobile app availability coming soon.
