It should be a great time for Hulu and, in fact, over the summer, it appeared it was. That's when it looked like Hulu might be for sale; however, no one wanted to pay the large amount the owners insisted the site was worth.
Hulu's worth is in its content. With the exception of the sexist and, yes, bitchy five minute program The Morning After, Hulu doesn't originate a great deal of programming that visitors to its website actually watch. Instead, it's dependent upon the networks which is why Hulu traffic slumps each summer when networks feature very few new episodes of programming.
When the fall TV season gets underway, the site usually does a lot better since it features content from ABC, NBC, CW and Fox (as well as cable networks). All the majors offered their content except CBS and, as CBS Interactive president Jim Lanzone explained last week, that was a smart move that allowed CBS to stream their programs only at their site, keeping it the number one ranked TV network site online for one month shy of three years.
Greed, what's a money story without it?
CBS might have been being greedy. Like Hulu, their site features commercials in their streaming. But if greed kept CBS off Hulu, Fox and the CW's greed may yet kill the website.
This fall, Hulu streamers discovered that The Simpsons and, in fact, all of Fox's programming was no longer available the day after on Hulu unless you were a subscriber to Dish TV or Hulu Plus. Most people aren't. And those people have to wait eight days after a Simpsons episode airs.
While that might be okay for a blockbuster like the animated family (which Fox has now announced will be on the air for at least two more seasons), shows like Fringe -- really most of Fox's shows, could use the help. And if there was a reason to delay, for example, Fringe, wouldn't it make more sense to allow the episode to be streamed on Thursday in the hopes that it would lead more people to tune in on Friday when the latest episode airs?
Instead, this show with continuing elements (aka soap opera) airs its new episodes on Fridays and streams it's previous episode the day after the new one airs (eight days after the episode aired on TV in fact). Again, it's not just irritating, it's counter-productive if the point is to build interest in the TV airing.
Last month, Hulu started featuring the CW (as part of their five-year contract with the CW). And, as with Fox, you have to wait eight days after broadcast to stream the 'latest' episode. (Hulu Plus subscribers can watch the episodes the day after they broadcast.) It does little to promote Hulu but the deal has allowed more people to be aware of Ringer and other CW shows.
While the Fox and CW deals piss off streamers who can't believe they're being asked to pay for commercial TV episodes -- while still watching commercials online -- what's going on with NBC is far more interesting. Supposedly to keep the advertising rate steady for Harry's Law ($61,000 per thirty-second spot), NBC promised to keep episodes off-line. Forgetting to announce this news to the public allowed many to (wrongly) believe that Harry's Law will be returning in the spring when it's already returned and airing new episodes on Wednesdays. Though we could get an answer (true or false) on Harry's Law from NBC friends, we couldn't get anything definitive on Chuck.
Chuck is no longer streaming episodes online -- other than it's season premiere.
How this will effect either show or NBC isn't known yet.
How it effects Hulu is tragic.
Take Chuck which was one of the gold standards for Hulu. Like 30 Rock, Family Guy, Cougar Town and Lost, Chuck has been very popular with Hulu users. And now it's gone. And this at a time when Hulu's really trying hard to sell Hulu Plus subscriptions because the failure to sell Hulu this fall means they'll have to have something more than "hits," "clicks" and "visits" to interest people in the potential public stock offering they're currently planning. The absence of Harry's Law makes it seem even less desirable. The website's need for that show was obvious when ABC recently went all repeats on Wednesday and Hulu streamers were left with little to watch on Thursday other than a Law and Order from the night before.
Some will point out that Hulu also airs movies. Yes, it does. The Criterion Collection (old and older films) and a lot of crap. Doubt us? For two years now, Strictly Sexual has been one of their most popular films -- a film so bad it didn't even get released and one that features no stars but a lot of nudity as two women decide to invite two men to live with them for "strictly sexual" reasons. (Click here for NPR's All Things Considered report on the film's Hulu success.) But many complain not only is the quality so poor but they just don't want to watch a movie with commerical breaks throughout.
TV episodes is how Hulu made its name and its failure to offer up a hit show of its own all this time later means it was and remains a distributor. Nothing wrong with that except a distributor is only as good as what he or she has to distribute. Historically in the entertainment industry, there have often been bidding wars for contract but we can't think of even one bidding war for a distributor.