Hulu has struck a deal with CBS for its upcoming streaming service, reports The Wall Street Journal. The agreement includes live streaming and on-demand content from CBS Corp.'s various channels at a rumored rate of ~$3/month per subscriber.
Hulu Chief Executive Mike Hopkins announced the agreement at an investor conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, saying the live-streaming service will cost "under" $40 and include Hulu's current video-on-demand library that starts at $8/month.
Subscription video on demand service Hulu just announced an exclusive multi-year deal with the entertainment conglomerate Disney that gives it rights to stream a collection of hit movies and family favorites from the rich library of blockbuster films from The Walt Disney Studios. This means that Disney movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mulan, Pocahontas, Hercules, Sister Act and Air Bud are all now available to stream exclusively via Hulu.
Hulu said today it's phased out its free, ad-suported tier as it refocuses efforts on subscription services. According to Variety, free TV episodes will no longer be available on Hulu, but the current $7.99/$11.99 per month paid tiers won't change. All Hulu content that was available free with ads has moved to Yahoo View, a new service designed for hosting free, ad-supported TV shows from the likes of ABC, NBC, Fox and others.
Time Warner is taking a ten percent stake in Hulu, joining existing owners Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast’s NBCUniversal, Variety reported today. The move should help bolster Hulu's programming by adding content from Time Warner’s channels, like Turner networks and CNN, which will be part of a new pay TV service that Hulu wants to launch next year. Terms of the investment were not disclosed, but sources claim that Time Warner paid around $583 million for its stake in Hulu, boosting its valuation to a cool $6 billion.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Hulu has been busy putting together a cable-like subscription offering that'd include content from partners like Disney and Fox while providing such advanced features as a cloud-based digital video recording (DVR) capability, live TV and more. The service sounds a lot like a rumored skinny TV bundle that Apple's been unsuccessfully trying to create.
Analysts have estimated that Hulu may charge consumers about $40 per month for the yet-to-be-announced service, which won't launch before 2017.
T-Mobile just took the cover off of its latest Uncarrier initiative, Binge On, which will allow customers who pay for at least 3GB of data to stream Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, HBO Now, Sling, and other popular video streaming services without it counting against monthly data usage.
If that sounds a bit crazy, then we're right there with you. T-Mobile has done similar things with music streaming already, but video is a whole different animal altogether.
But unsurprisingly, there is one small catch. T-Mobile will essentially cap the maximum quality of the video streams participating in its plan through what it calls "optimization". Basically, it's reducing the amount of bandwidth used for videos, which will result in at least some quality degradation for most modern smartphones.
Picture in Picture mode is one of the several productivity-focused enhancements on iPads with iOS 9. This handy feature allows you to watch a video while doing something else. The video plays in a small window overlaid on top of your apps so you can, for instance, browse the web while watching your favorite show at the same time.
Developers can decide whether or not they wish to enable Picture in Picture mode in their apps.
Thankfully, some of the well-known developers have already implemented Picture in Picture mode in their apps, including Hulu, Pocket, MLB.com at Bat and BBC iPlayer.
Unlike Amazon and Netflix who stream commercial-free movies and television shows in exchange for a monthly fee, Hulu's existing $7.99 per month plan includes limited advertising. Wednesday, Hulu unveiled a new monthly plan that gets rid of all advertising for an extra $4 a month.
As noted in Hulu's media release, commercial-free viewing is available to both new and existing customers for a monthly fee of $11.99.
Hulu has posted a major update for its Hulu Plus iOS client, bringing the app to version 4.0. The update features a number of enhancements, including an all new design, new navigation options, and in-app subscriptions, which allows you to subscribe to the Hulu Plus service.
In addition to these changes, the Hulu Plus app also received a new Search function, which now offers contextually grouped results to help you find what you're looking for. The app has also been updated to support iOS 8, and to "run beautifully" on the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
It's easy to forget about Hulu amid the heated battle between Amazon and Netflix for the digital distribution of premium entertainment and original content.
As you know, for quite some time this service has been offering on-demand streaming video of TV shows and Hollywood movies, free of charge with some ads. However, on desktops only.
This is about to change as Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins announced at a press event in New York this morning that beginning this summer non-subscribers will be able to stream ad-supported content on mobile devices, marking a major shift in strategy for this over-the-top video service.
They'll also issue a redesigned iPhone app around the same time this summer...
Hulu posted a significant update for its Plus iOS client this morning, bringing the app to version 3.5.2. The release includes a new remote control feature that will enable users to control the Hulu Plus experience on their Xbox One, PS3 or PS4 console using an iPhone or iPad.
Setup is a breeze. Simply launch the Hulu Plus app on your iOS (or Android) device, and it will automatically detect your gaming console. Once detected, a 'Cast' button will appear in the app, allowing you to pair your smartphone or tablet to the selected console and take control...
Following the unveiling of its new Fire TV box last week, Amazon announced today that video streams on Instant Video nearly tripled over the past year. And according to a report from tracking firm Qwilt, the e-commerce giant has surpassed Apple and Hulu in streaming video usage.
The report doesn't mention how traffic for Apple and Hulu is being tracked, but it does show that Amazon experienced a 94% traffic volume increase of streaming video users in the last 12 months. In fact, in March, Amazon's Instant Video service was only topped by Netflix and YouTube...