Tech blogs everywhere are buzzing with the rumor that Hulu, the groundbreaking TV Streaming venture, may start chargin subscription fees for content. Gizmodo has a rather dismal article about it. Crunchgear has a somewhat more apathetic view on the topic.
This is a very interesting topic. Many people have strong feelings about this. My personal opinion is that Hulu should stay free. It seems to stand as a testimony that free, legal, online television works, and works well. They still have advertisements, and still have commercials, if limited in number compared to broadcast. But the basic idea is solid.
There is a place for paid content however I think. And if you think about it, it is the most logical place for it. When Hulu first launched, they started putting up entire seasons and back catalogs of shows. People loved this! But now, after a couple years of success, most shows on Hulu are now limited to the five most recent episodes aired. No more going back to watch whole seasons of shows, or catching up after a vacation. Once an episode is expired, its gone.
A nominal subscription fee to unlock the back catalog of episodes would be a very good idea, as long as they don’t remove the current functionality of the 5 most recent episodes available to free as they have always been. If Hulu does decide to go to a paid model, I sincerely hope that they adopt this kind of strategy. But I would much prefer they stay free like they started.