HULU.COM (NBC, FOX, DISNEY - USA)
A rather ambitious joint venture when implemented at the time, Hulu.com is owned by several key players in the US Television market; namely NBC, Fox and The Disney Channel. Today, it seems to be gaining less mainstream popularity, in the arise of of networks offering more direct catchup services straight from their websites - nevertheless, Hulu.com has been, and continues to be, a very important turning point in the landscape of on-demand television.
Hulu.com acts like a central distribution media hub for these television networks, with a limited, but also free catchup service. These standard definition (SD) views are subsidised with commercial advertisements, run prior and during the main content. For a small fee per month ($9.99), Hulu Plus members can access a full backlog of complete seasons, in addition to a small selection of on-demand movies - all in full 720p HD. Strangely, advertisements are still run throughout some of this bonus content, however some Hulu Plus users comment that advertisements are less frequent. Similar to the BBC, Hulu.com has a very attractive iPad app, taking Hulu content practically anywhere, to be consumed at any time. Once again, the iPad app is fully customisable and users are able to select favourite shows to watch out for. Subscribers can also stream the iPad content via 3G, without having to worry about being around a WI-FI connection (the BBC’s iPlayer does not allow this feature). Once again, if you are a Hulu Plus subscriber, content is delivered in full 720p HD over the app - simply making for a highly desirable and pleasurable experience for the tablet/mobile users. There is also a smaller cut-down version of the Hulu app which is available on the iPhone (3Gs, 4, 4S) - which still allows you to search through full seasons, your favourite selections and also browse popular shows. |
Once again these mobile applications help users not only time-shift their television programming, but also shift it into a space that best suits them - whether it be at home, at work, on the bus, out the back in the sun, etc. So efficiently, Hulu members in The States are time-shifting and also space-shifting their television behaviours, enjoying the freedom of watching whatever they want to watch, whenever they want to watch it, on whatever device they are using, wherever they might be.
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