OT: Time Warner invests in Hulu

Submitted by lilpenny1316 on

With the NCAA Tournament on the Time Warner channels, this is an interesting development for cord cutters.  Time Warner (TNT, TBS, CNN, etc) will have a 10% stake in Hulu.  Hulu is coming out with their own online live TV service, and those networks will be included.   

There is rumor that Hulu will have a basic $35 package to stream to one in-home or mobile device (I assume one at a time) and $50 for streaming to multiple devices.  As a Playstation user, I probably would not jump ship from PS Vue unless Hulu has a better channel offering.

Link (DetNews)

GOBLUE4EVR

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^

warner makes Comcast look like they know what they are doing... in my line of work and having to deal with time warner in NYC is always a shit show... you can tell them what day they need to be on site and what time months in advance and they still manage to screw it up...

GOBLUE4EVR

August 4th, 2016 at 7:35 AM ^

that the media company has nothing to do with cable company...

the one AV company i used to work had a customer that had a lot of financial branches (the follow the green line one) in NYC and depending on the buidling they either got direct TV or Time Warner cable... TW would be told what day they needed to deliver their equipment on for a new install because someone would be there, they would show up 2 weeks early and no one was there to give the equipment to and then just leave... then when the subs would show up to do the install there were no cable boxes and it would be impossible to get them to come back out to deliver the cable boxes...

on the service side of things, when one of those branches needed new cable boxes TW would show up and just drop them off and not even hook them up and claim that they only had to do that and then we would have to send a tech out to do a 5 min job... or they would never believe that there was an issue with cable boxes when the branch would call them, so again we would have to send someone out to trouble shoot, prove the issue was with the cable boxes and then it would take a few weeks for them to bring new boxes out... 

UMProud

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:20 PM ^

There are a number of big hitters that have an investment in Hulu I think? If Hulu can get ahead if the curve on new cable shows they could outpace Netflix and Amazon

julesh

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^

You get to watch shows during the season, and they have some stuff the others don't. But if you want no commercials it costs $12 a month. And I am not interested in paying that much when I have Netflix and Amazon. The version with commercials is like $8 a month I think, which is more than I would ever pay to become a product.

This is Michigan

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:49 PM ^

Hulu acts as a DVR for network shows that aren't added to Netflix or Amazon Prime. You can choose from a wide selection of shows from many networks (NBC, ABC, Comedy Central etc.) I have found it useful because I don't have cable. So if I want to watch Chicago Fire or my wife wants to watch Bachelor, we can watch the day after it airs. Hulu lacks in original series in comparison to Netflix, although there are a couple of decent shows.

JayMo4

August 3rd, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^

All these grand plans to save money by cutting the cord are going to work right up until the major streaming services are bought up and raise their rates to where they're comparable to cable/satellite. It's always been a matter of time.

JamieH

August 3rd, 2016 at 6:30 PM ^

they aren't really grand plans to save people money.  They are just grand plans to make DIFFERENT people money.  Their marketing pitch at the moment is that they are saving you money, but that will change the moment that any of these services becomes popular enough to actually have desirable first-run content that people decide they need. 

Benoit Balls

August 3rd, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^

cable providers have started touting "no data caps" as a perk in their advertisements for cable packages. They are conditioning consumers for the eventuality that there will be data caps (probably for internet only subscribers at first). They aren't going to lose all that cord cutting money and take it lying down.

Eventually there will be data caps and streamers will end up paying as much for internet access and a couple/few subscription services as people who have regular old cable.

I BKFinest it

bacon

August 3rd, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^

I can't wait for more online options for tv service. I'm trying Vue now and it's ok, but I think the challenge will be getting games on abc (I haven't gotten an antenna yet). I don't miss paying for tv yet though.

slimj091

August 3rd, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^

Ooo.. To be able to live stream TBS, TNT, and CNN for 35 bucks a month? Here I have been using 35 dollars a month as toilet paper, might as well spend it on three channels.

MGoStrength

August 4th, 2016 at 8:14 AM ^

For the past 7 years I have not had to pay for cable and I just moved and flirted with not getting cable, but eventually caved under my own frustration of not finding a suitable alternative.  For the life of me I cannot understand why consumers can't order cable only by the channels they want without having to pay for additional channels in packages they are not interested, but that's another story. 

 

Anyways to make a long story short I do watch movies on either Netflix or other online places.  The only reason I get cable is for college football season.  I really only want ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, and BTN.  Basically I don't want to miss any Michigan games and would like to watch a handfull of other college football games.  I don't watch any other live sports or television programs regularly.  Here's my question.  Is there a better way than paying $93/month with Time Warner?  Can you get those 5 channels somewhere else cheaper?