Hulu Plus

I dumped my Cable company during the holidays and since a lot of shows are coming back from hiatus in February I will need to either find a new cable TV provider (although I don't want to be locked down for a year+) or give Hulu Plus a shot. The price is very reasonable, but looks like all shows are delayed a day. For those that use Hulu, what has your experience been like?

Hull plus is the only format of TV shows I have and I love it. Most shows have their currents seasons on there and the commercials, although annoying and repetitive, are still shorter than real TV commercials.

Most shows do come out the day after they air on cable, but how big of a deal that is depends on your personal habits. My wife and I never usually watched things live anyway and just watched them on the DVR, so having them the next day didn't really change anything for us. That being said, you're also limited by what Hulu carries, which usually doesn't include shows on CBS.

There are a few quirks with the app that I don't like, but they're more annoyances than blockers. The queue is not in a very intuitive place, so it can be hard to find what you've actually said you already want to watch. As a side effect, this makes the kinect voice commands pretty much unusable. Once you're watching something, the experience is pretty good.

Overall, it depends on what you watch and how you watch it.

Thanks for the info.

The only real important shows I want to watch are on AMC, The Walk Dead, The Talking Dead, Better Call Saul, & Comic Book Men. Maybe Star Wars Rebels, although I can just go online to the Disney site to watch that.

AMC new shows (like new content that never aired before April 2015) went exclusive to HULU. However, every existing show had a contract in place, Like "The Walking Dead" has a deal with Netflix.

So, you want to TWD, you currently need AMC or Netflix or you need to procure it illegally.

You want Fear the Walking Dead, you need Hulu or AMC or you need to procure it illegally.

And then deals change. BBCA is an AMC owned company, and Dr. Who WAS Netflix, but Netflix is losing the rights and they change streaming services. Existing AMC-owned shows are on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Video. So, if you do not want to have cable, but you want to continue to watch all of your shows, you need Hulu, and Netflix, and Amazon... (or procure illegally)

AMC new shows (like new content that never aired before April 2015) went exclusive to HULU. However, every existing show had a contract in place, Like "The Walking Dead" has a deal with Netflix.

So, you want to TWD, you currently need AMC or Netflix or you need to procure it illegally.

You want Fear the Walking Dead, you need Hulu or AMC or you need to procure it illegally.

And then deals change. BBCA is an AMC owned company, and Dr. Who WAS Netflix, but Netflix is losing the rights and they change streaming services. Existing AMC-owned shows are on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Video. So, if you do not want to have cable, but you want to continue to watch all of your shows, you need Hulu, and Netflix, and Amazon... (or procure illegally)

Originally Posted by futiles

Whoa. Thanks for summing that up actually. So we will literally need all 3 services in order to get what we used to before, in one package. I have Netflix and Amazon, but no Hulu, and so far, this discussion is educating me greatly. Please continue

AMC new shows (like new content that never aired before April 2015) went exclusive to HULU. However, every existing show had a contract in place, Like "The Walking Dead" has a deal with Netflix.

So, you want to TWD, you currently need AMC or Netflix or you need to procure it illegally.

You want Fear the Walking Dead, you need Hulu or AMC or you need to procure it illegally.

And then deals change. BBCA is an AMC owned company, and Dr. Who WAS Netflix, but Netflix is losing the rights and they change streaming services. Existing AMC-owned shows are on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Video. So, if you do not want to have cable, but you want to continue to watch all of your shows, you need Hulu, and Netflix, and Amazon... (or procure illegally)

Originally Posted by futiles

I'm just so tired of cable companies charging so much when I only watch a handful of channels. When you try to negotiate with them to eliminate or rearrange packages they have worked it out to the point you only save $5. I would gladly pay AMC directly to stream their shows and cut out the middleman. HBO is doing it, everyone else needs to get on board. Most of the apps on the One or the channel websites like the CW or FX still wants you to connect with your service provider making the apps useless.

I only have Netflix and even tho TWD is Netflix only, they will be one season behind. So no new episodes.
FEARTWD on hulu, I believe will be last season plus this new season that is currently filming.
There is nothing I can think of that is on Amazon that I need to watch.

Also Better Call Saul Season 1 just hit Netflix if anyone needs to catch up.

I'm just so tired of cable companies charging so much when I only watch a handful of channels. When you try to negotiate with them to eliminate or rearrange packages they have worked it out to the point you only save $5. I would gladly pay AMC directly to stream their shows and cut out the middleman. HBO is doing it, everyone else needs to get on board. Most of the apps on the One or the channel websites like the CW or FX still wants you to connect with your service provider making the apps useless.

I only have Netflix and even tho TWD is Netflix only, they will be one season behind. So no new episodes.
FEARTWD on hulu, I believe will be last season plus this new season that is currently filming.
There is nothing I can think of that is on Amazon that I need to watch.

Also Better Call Saul Season 1 just hit Netflix if anyone needs to catch up.

Originally Posted by MarvzMitts

FTWD is the same schedule as TWD. Week before season two airs, season 1 will hit Hulu.

FTWD is the same schedule as TWD. Week before season two airs, season 1 will hit Hulu.

Originally Posted by futiles

So no episodes of season 2 on Hulu until season 3 is in the can?

So no episodes of season 2 on Hulu until season 3 is in the can?

Originally Posted by MarvzMitts

Basically.

Or you can always resort to pirating......

Or you can always resort to pirating......

Originally Posted by pTartTX

I may have to, or I'll have to go to my brother's house on Sundays.

I may have to, or I'll have to go to my brother's hose on Sundays.

Originally Posted by MarvzMitts

Must be some hose if it can fit a tv... 😂

You do understand it isn't the cable companies making it difficult, right? HBO, being an add on premium is different than a standard channel. Standard channels charge a set fee per subscriber to the cable company, with a requirement that it is carried on a specific package with all the other channels they own. So, the ABC networks have no benefit to offer separately, since most people don't want ESPN, AND Disney, AND ABC Family, or whatever other channel is in their portfolio, but almost everyone wants one of those, so, Disney sells them as a single package to the cable providers per subscriber count. If they sold separately, most people would only want just one, and the return isn't there for them.

HBO is a tack-on, and calculates differently. So, since they charge you ~ $15/month through your cable provider, and also about that for the direct service, they make out better as a stand alone service.

A La Carte is always the go to demand, and sounds great, but, back to the Disney example, ESPN and Disney are literally a couple dollars each per month, and all their other channels (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESN, DisXD, ABCFam, whatever) are actually pennies per month. So, Disney says the cable company that wants ESPN HAS to have all the others and they want $5/month/subscriber for all the channels... So, you'd drop all the channels you don't want, and settle to the 20-30 you do, and you would still be in the $40-$60/month service.

It's shitty, it's changing, but there is obviously a strong deterrent from the studio/provider.

Must be some hose if it can fit a tv... 😂

Originally Posted by porschephiliac

Hehe, you got me.

You do understand it isn't the cable companies making it difficult, right? HBO, being an add on premium is different than a standard channel. Standard channels charge a set fee per subscriber to the cable company, with a requirement that it is carried on a specific package with all the other channels they own. So, the ABC networks have no benefit to offer separately, since most people don't want ESPN, AND Disney, AND ABC Family, or whatever other channel is in their portfolio, but almost everyone wants one of those, so, Disney sells them as a single package to the cable providers per subscriber count. If they sold separately, most people would only want just one, and the return isn't there for them.

HBO is a tack-on, and calculates differently. So, since they charge you ~ $15/month through your cable provider, and also about that for the direct service, they make out better as a stand alone service.

A La Carte is always the go to demand, and sounds great, but, back to the Disney example, ESPN and Disney are literally a couple dollars each per month, and all their other channels (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESN, DisXD, ABCFam, whatever) are actually pennies per month. So, Disney says the cable company that wants ESPN HAS to have all the others and they want $5/month/subscriber for all the channels... So, you'd drop all the channels you don't want, and settle to the 20-30 you do, and you would still be in the $40-$60/month service.

It's shitty, it's changing, but there is obviously a strong deterrent from the studio/provider.

Originally Posted by futiles

Yes, I do get that. I even remember when you had to fight to get channels from your provider like MTV. The way people watch TV has changed in the 20 years (I'm sure you are well aware). AMC is now a powerhouse that rivals and surpasses HBO with original content. I would just rather pay AMC directly for the majority of shows I watch on that channel instead of almost $100 for AMC and a shit load of worthless music, sports, and shopping channels that I have no interest in. Or channels that I might watch on a off chance if I have nothing else to watch. That doesn't happen with me since I am either gaming or watching Netflix.

Yes, I do get that. I even remember when you had to fight to get channels from your provider like MTV. The way people watch TV has changed in the 20 years (I'm sure you are well aware). AMC is now a powerhouse that rivals and surpasses HBO with original content. I would just rather pay AMC directly for the majority of shows I watch on that channel instead of almost $100 for AMC and a shit load of worthless music, sports, and shopping channels that I have no interest in. Or channels that I might watch on a off chance if I have nothing else to watch. That doesn't happen with me since I am either gaming or watching Netflix.

Originally Posted by MarvzMitts

Except, would you pay for AMC, BBCA, IFC, and Sundance to watch TWD and FtWD on streaming? What would you pay for it? All of those channels are sold to your cable company as a package (same owner), and AMC is getting much more from cable providers selling direct to them for their 100 Million subscribers than they would get selling piece meal to individuals, and they get all their content into homes, not just specific content.

Except, would you pay for AMC, BBCA, IFC, and Sundance to watch TWD and FtWD on streaming? What would you pay for it? All of those channels are sold to your cable company as a package (same owner), and AMC is getting much more from cable providers selling direct to them for their 100 Million subscribers than they would get selling piece meal to individuals, and they get all their content into homes, not just specific content.

Originally Posted by futiles

I'm sure they make a good amount of money that way. Having an AMC only App could be considered another revenue stream like DVD sales. I would be willing to pay around $5-$10 for live content, but then they would have to build one app for all the channels which doesn't make sense and would be confusing. MTV has its own app, VH1 also owned by the same company has its own App as an example, so they would need to split the channels up.