Will You Pay for Hulu on the iPad? It May Be Your Only Choice.
Will Hulu come to the iPad? Probably. One day. But you had better get ready to pay for it.
Hulu and its owners, three of the big broadcast TV networks, want to bring some version of the Web video service to Apple’s device.
But the most likely scenario is one in which access to Hulu on the iPad comes as part of a subscription package, multiple people familiar with the company tell me.
Hulu has been free for Web users since it launched in 2008. But its broadcast owners–GE’s (GE) NBC Universal, News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox and Disney’s (DIS) ABC–have repeatedly said they want to introduce some sort of premium version.
Depending on who you talk to, the pay service is either supposed to help the money-losing Web site turn a profit or compensate the networks for the eyeballs and dollars Hulu is supposedly siphoning away. Or both.
The problem is figuring out a way to keep the existing site free while adding new bells and whistles that consumers pay for. One idea the company and its backers like: Turning Hulu from a “one screen” service–one you’re only supposed to watch on your computer–to a “three screen” offering by adding support for TVs and mobile devices.
“Just three screens alone is pretty enticing,” for consumers, says an executive at one of Hulu’s parent companies.
If you want, you can hook up your computer to your big-screen TV with a cable and watch Hulu that way. But Hulu hasn’t aligned itself with devices and software that make the process easier, as Netflix (NFLX) has. Meanwhile, there’s no Hulu for devices like Apple’s iPhone, even though rival YouTube, owned by Google’s (GOOG), loves smartphones.
And while you could argue that the iPad isn’t necessarily a mobile device, since 3G Internet access is an optional feature, Hulu and the broadcasters that own it are likely to classify it as one. Like many other content owners, the video service sees the device as an opportunity to charge for something it has been giving away on the Web.
All the sources I talked to cautioned that Hulu and its owners had yet to agree on a definitive plan for a premium service. And this needs to be resolved before they can tackle device-specific issues.
“It’s a tricky balancing act that we’re trying to fine-tune before we go out,” one source tells me. “Everyone’s concerned about making a strong offering at a good price, and not undercutting the existing business.”
And if Hulu does decide to head to the iPad, it will involve some work for both engineers and lawyers.
Hulu, like almost all Web video, uses Adobe’s (ADBE) Flash, which is a no-go for the iPad, so that would require a workaround of some sort. It’s doable, but not a snap.
And if Hulu decides to define the iPad as a mobile device, it would also need its content owners to grant it mobile rights, which it doesn’t actually have. Again, doable. But the broadcasters are already making money from other mobile services, like Verizon’s (VZ) V Cast. So they have to tread carefully.
All of which makes it very unlikely that you’re going to see Hulu on the iPad when it begins shipping at the end of March, no matter how badly Apple (AAPL) would love it.
A rumor that the service would launch alongside the iPad surfaced in the wake of Steve Jobs’s New York media tour earlier this month. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence. But I don’t think that makes it so, either.
Comments
From what I've heard, it's actually pretty easy for them to move the video to iPad/iPhone from current system, since they're already using the H.264 codec for the video. Only difference is wrapping it in Flash (on Web) versus using a different iPhone/iPad/QuickTime-friendly way to move the video to devices. But my understanding is that they shouldn't have to duplicate their entire video file library, for instance.
Posted by Dan Frommer at February 19th, 2010 at 2:09 pmThere's a debate about the relative ease, but it's certainly doable.
Posted by PKafka at February 19th, 2010 at 2:27 pmIf they are using H.264 w/ AAC QT or M4V file types it should be quite easy. As you can have one library that is being streamed into the different players that they build. Word on the street is that Hulu will have an HTML5 player interface built by iPad launch date.
Posted by digitizedsociety at February 19th, 2010 at 4:33 pmThere's no way Hulu will release an HTML5 video player without copy protection of some type built in.
Posted by rschroed at February 19th, 2010 at 5:19 pm@rschroed
Agreed; who said that they wouldn't have security measures in place?
Posted by digitizedsociety at February 19th, 2010 at 5:33 pmRemember the “subscriptions” that Jobs was supposedly after from all the major broadcasters? A selection of all the most popular shows? If they did sell a subscription service for the iPad — and I presume, this video could be sent to a wi-fi network that might have an HDTV attached to it — then I'd be interested in paying the cable company for Internet service and drop them as TV provider.
On such a service, you'd need a much more reliable library and search system. If you're a fan of lost, and you pay a subscription, you should be able to download or stream the entire season, or all 5 seasons if you want.
Free Hulu comes in a Flash wrapper at the moment, and it doesn't include any predictable array of shows, and they vanish unpredictably as well.
Posted by Swift2 at February 19th, 2010 at 7:51 pmOf course I would Pay for it. It's what the iPad was built for. And it will be a cash cow for Hulu. I'd also pay for an HBO app. You think I'd pay $14.99 for a book, but not $10 for TV… cmon. Not only that, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Posted by youngluck at February 19th, 2010 at 7:53 pmI do remember the subscriptions idea (there's a reason for that http://bit.ly/38MKgx). And in fact Apple is still interested in it.
Posted by PKafka at February 19th, 2010 at 8:03 pmAny show any time anywhere for a reasonable fee. Too much to hope for, apparently.
Perhaps some enterprising production company will at least create an iPad app for their show to use while watching on the bigger screen. (Think IMDB meets DVD extras meets Facebook.)
Posted by kawika at February 19th, 2010 at 8:39 pmIt really couldn't be too much of an engineering problem. If I understand correctly, Hulu already has their video content in H.264 format, which the iPod and iPad play. Remember, Flash is not a video format, just a means of playing that video inside a browser, This is how YouTube is available on 'mobile devices' that don't have flash.
Posted by Shawn L. at February 19th, 2010 at 8:48 pmI'm hoping for a native app, not a webapp, but an HTML5 version would absolutely be in their best interest.
Posted by facebook-36615887 at February 20th, 2010 at 12:49 amIf not for Apple, I may have had the terrible experience of playing free Flash games and watching free Flash videos on my iPad…..
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I also will pay for it. And before pay for it I must know the ipad detailed information as possible. So , I search and came across the iFunai iPad column( http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/index.html).
Posted by zisel at April 20th, 2010 at 2:13 am