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Hulu gets PBS, Comedy Central

By Todd Mundt • June 10, 2008

I’ve written before that I wanted to hate Hulu - I wanted the shows in iTunes for download rather than streamed to me.

Well, Hulu works pretty well. The streaming quality is excellent (I have 20 MBps at home, but I’ve tried it on slower connections with good results); the library is eclectic and deep - current series, classic TV. Commercials interruptions are so minor as to be trivial - generally one 15-30 second ad per break.

One of the main reasons why I cancelled cable TV last month was Hulu’s library of TV. Now, there are more reasons for you to say goodbye to cable, too: The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are joining the Hulu roster; so are NOVA, Scientific American Frontiers, Carrier and Wired Science from PBS. (I haven’t bid goodbye to my local public TV - I watch its over-the-air digital streams.)

Here’s how I cut the coax.

While I’m at it, PBS would get an A+ if it worked even harder with station producers to get a chunk of the how-to shows, Washington Week, as well as some of the lesser known but excellent public affairs content up on Hulu. Or if the iTunesU content from PBS and select PBS stations was expanded to included many other stations and shows. Documentaries are a minefield of rights issues, but I can’t believe that Gwen Ifill, Lidia Bastianich and Fons and Porter (I’m a fan of all four) have contracts that make online offerings cost-prohibitive. Rick Steves: will offering even just the oldest episodes damage viewing or DVD sales? I bet not.

I don’t want to over-simplify a complicated issue - local stations grapple with everything from server space and streaming costs (if they decide against free options) to workflow. But, let’s face it: most of the public TV experiments with online video are surprisingly timid, given the voracious appetite for it. It’s kind of like deciding to cautiously get into FM radio in 1986.

Good moves, PBS (and KQED, WGBH, etc) on iTunesU and Hulu. I hope others will follow your lead, and quick.

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Viewing 5 Comments

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    I've been using hulu for a while and i love it ... my connection speed is usually around 6 mbps and i don't have any problems at all..
    I don't watch TV a lot but hulu makes up for me .. the commercials are really short witch is great and i can watch a full episode of the office on my lunch break. what's more awesome than that :)
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    First off, I might recommend a minor title change to: "PBS gets Hulu" Ha! Anyhoo...

    My wife is not a TV watcher. But with hulu on her MacBook, she's watching more television than ever. It's even replaced bedtime reading, at least for now. She watches old sitcoms and has become a fan of the Fox series "Bones." Without hulu, this would never have happened. I can hear her watching a show in the bedroom right now!

    Me, I got hooked on hulu as an alternative, more convenient way to watch Battlestar Galactica. But now I'm pissed at hulu and NBC Universal.

    In order to lock-in viewers to the Sci-Fi channel with all their advertising, they now delay episodes from appearing on hulu for 8 days after first broadcast AND they delete episodes from hulu after about 3 weeks. So now, you have to either use the appointment-viewing model with Sci-Fi, or use the (delayed) appointment-viewing model on hulu!

    Frakkin' appointments to watch TV programs? Seriously? Hey NBCU: 1989 called -- they want their business model back.

    Can I buy BSG episodes on iTunes? Not anymore. NBCU had a hissy fit / pissing match with Apple over sales of shows on iTunes; they took their ball and went home last fall. They've left me no alternative. So now, with great reluctance, I became a BitTorrent user this week.

    Now before the lawyers lick their chops over the idea of suing me, be forewarned that I actually own seven copies of BSG seasons. I bought Season 1 on iTunes, then re-bought it on DVD. Same with Season 2. Again with Season 3. I also bought an additional DVD set of Season 1 to give as a gift. I've hooked other people on the show. My five-star review on iTunes was the top-rated review for more than a year.

    And even with the shabby treatment I'm getting from these Hollywood dillweeds, I would pay for Season 4 on iTunes, too. And re-buy it on DVD -- or better yet, Blu-ray. Hell, I'll probably buy Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 on Blu-ray disc at some point. That'll make 12 seasons' purchases for only 4 seasons of content! I'm the definition of a loyal customer, a fan, a financial supporter.

    Yet NBCU treats me like a chump, like a waste of their time, or maybe even like a criminal.

    Dear producers of the new Battlestar Galactica: I love your work; thank you.

    Dear hulu developers: Keep on truckin' -- great stuff.

    Dear NBCU: Bite me.
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    I could echo that for a favorite show of ours - Top Chef.

    Bravo/NBCU has posted less than 4 of the 13 episodes of the current season, often long-delayed. It's frankly bewildering, since we and probably several thousand others would be happy to fork over $25 on iTunes to watch the whole season.

    Instead, we download episodes from BitTorrent. Apparently NBCU has money to burn since they're continuing their ridiculous feud with iTunes and also not posting video on Hulu, where they can reap some ad revenue.
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    It is great to hear that I am not the only one who has given up cable. At first is was hard and I missed many of the shows that were part of my regular viewing. After discovering Hulu not having a tv was made even more bearable. After several months of not having a tv or cable life got a little simpler. It has given me more time for other activities like finding this site. Even if the tv is replaced I am currently not thinking about reconnecting the cable. Thanks for your insight.
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    here are more reasons for you to say goodbye to cable, too: The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are joining the Hulu roster
 

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