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[Angry Grimace]

The stupid part is that you can't unring the bell. G'head n' try it mate :lol

 

[Kintaro]

Has streaming site/video content site or sites of this nature ever made a profit? A sustainable profit year or year? Or are they all just operating in the red?

 

[afternoon delight]

The selection isn't good enough to warrent a fee. They need to offer more than the latest five episodes of shows, and expand to stuff like HBO and Showtime. Until then, they can kiss my ass.

Pretty much. But I'm spoiled, Netflix instant is fuckawesome.

 

[Xeke]

I'm content with hulu now and I'd rather watch shows there legally but I'm not going to pay for them. I already pay for the channel on tv And the Internet connection.

 

[iamblades]

so, you would pay less than you do for cable tv in return for being able to watch any show at any time? aka cable tv with instant, ever-lasting and all-encompassing dvr?

i dont get why people expect so much out of companies on the internet.

I mean every show on the broadcast networks..

I'm not talking every single cable show. That'd be impossible.

 

[Windu]

well, goodbye Hulu if that happens.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Has streaming site/video content site or sites of this nature ever made a profit? A sustainable profit year or year? Or are they all just operating in the red?

Sure, Hulu made 100+ million this year.

The problem here is that the old media guys have the basic premises of why people like services like Hulu in the first place completely wrong.

A) The difference between $5 and $6 and Free and $1 isn't the same thing.
B) The appeal of Hulu isn't "watch TV shows online," it's "Watch TV shows online for free."

The only way a subscription plan/etc. is going to work vs. the status quo is to make the subscription service that much better. i.e. Streaming to actual televisions, available right after airing at the resolution of the viewers choice. The problem with that, of course, is that what we're talking about something that's inherently better than cable is.

The concept of all television/serial programming becoming essentially on-demand is pretty much wave of the future, in my opinion, but I think we all have our doubts that what's being discussed here is anything other than charging money for the same shit we get for free.

 

[LiveWire]

How does it work exactly? Everything should be free and nobody gets paid?

I think they must've stopped teaching TINSTAAFL in high school.

 

[Kintaro]

Sure, Hulu made 100+ million this year.

Is that profit or just revenue?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Is that profit or just revenue?

Presumably revenue.

I doubt it's baseline unprofitable though, and I really can't imagine how blowing up your entire model makes sense.

Again, I would be you that On-Demand services are wave of the future and will be pretty much standard by 2020, if not earlier. I think they're just underestimating the difference between free and "costs money."