Help me cut the cord

Got Hulu free for a month again
and have already run out of stuff
I want to watch. Their movie selection
is terrible.

Quote: Evenbob

Got Hulu free for a month again and have already run out of stuff I want to watch. Their movie selection is terrible.

Hulu is primarily devoted to the interests of it's three owners: 60% Disney (and Fox ny Disney is technically not closed), 30% COMCAST (NBC Universal division), and 10% AT&T (TimeWarner division). Although those companies own rights to movies, but they try to wring a lot more money out of them from Video On Demand and on HBO before they end up on Hulu. Much of what is on Hulu is available for free on individual websites, but you have to hunt for them. You also don't have the option to pay extra to eliminate commercials.

At this point, I imagine AT&T would gladly sell their share and pull their 9 channels off Hulu because they are being given away with unlimited cell service.

I still think the best streaming service is the most expensive, HBO, at $15 a month.The selection is not as large, but the quality is much higher

Quote: Pacomartin

You also don't have the option to pay extra to eliminate commercials.

Perhaps I'm mis-understanding what you mean by this, are you saying that Hulu always has commercials?

My Hulu package is commercial free.

how many commercials are there? What is the run time of a normal 30 min show? 22 min?

Quote: reno

Perhaps I'm mis-understanding what you mean by this, are you saying that Hulu always has commercials?

I am saying that the individual channel websites have most of the entertainment shows for free, but they don't give you the option of paying to have commercials eliminated.

Hulu Video on Demand Library is $5.99-$7.99 to view with commercials, and $11.99 to view without commercials.

Hulu Live TV online is $39.99/month
Watch Live TV online and on iOS, Android, Roku, Fire TV & Fire Stick, Apple TV (4th gen), Chromecast, Xbox One & Xbox 360, and Samsung (select TV models), LG (select TV models), and Nintendo Switch – more devices coming soon. Stream 50+ top Live and On Demand TV channels including sports, news, and entertainment Get unlimited access to the Hulu streaming library (Limited Commercials plan) with full seasons of exclusive series, hit movies, Hulu Originals, kids shows, and more Watch on 2 screens at the same time Record Live TV with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage

Then you pay extra to have one of 6 options
1) on demand library commercial free (additional $4)
2) more than 2 screens at the same time (additional $15)
3) Cloud DVR storage upgraded from 50 hours to 200 hours (additional $15)
4) HBO +$14.99/month
5) CINEMAX +$9.99/month
6) SHOWTIME +$8.99/month

Hulu also does not give you the channels that are owned by the minor media companies. This list may change.
AMC
Animal Planet
BET
CMT
Comedy
Discovery
GSN
Hallmark
Hallmark Movies
IFC
Investigation Discovery (ID)
MTV
Nickelodeon
Outdoor
OWN (Oprah)
Paramount
Reelz (owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, an American television and radio broadcasting corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota. )
Sundance
TLC
TV Land
Velocity
VH1
WE (Women's Entertainment)
WGN (Chicago Superstation)

Some people could care less about the channels owned by minor media companies, but some people are devoted. The Major Media companies are Disney which now owns 21st century fox, Fox News, Comcast (NBC Universal) and AT&T which bought Time Warner Media.

If you really want these other channels you can pay $16 and get Philo TV which is composed almost entirely of channels left out by Hulu .
https://try.philo.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=philo&utm_term=philo-1042&utm_content=MVBrandPhiloMisspellingPhrase&contentId=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vfcBRDJARIsAJafEnFNzFE4SnXRowd0jsqscQDLK8gr4_BBPPOzRLvmfEYwKPPmbnwTtT4aAoH5EALw_wcB

Philo leaves out Hallmark Channels which would cost you $5 . Hallmark channels are owned by greeting card company.

Quote: GwoAE

how many commercials are there? What is the run time of a normal 30 min show? 22 min?

I think it varies, but sometimes is 21 minutes. But that includes the music.

Quote: Pacomartin

Hulu Video on Demand Library is $5.99-$7.99 to view with commercials, and $11.99 to view without commercials.

It's worth the extra $4 not to have
commercials. Every movie I saw
on YoutubeTv had commercials.
Yuk, for $40 I expected commercial
free.

I did a free trial of Hulu for $11.99
and just cancelled it before they
could charge me. What a worthless
site on every level. Most of the movies
are time specific, you have to watch
them when they're broadcast on
a specific network. The free movies
suck. The TV shows never offer
complete past seasons, just the
most recent season.

Prime and Nflix are so much better
in every way. Now Hulu is bombarding
me with $5.99 offers for 3 months,
begging me to come back. I wouldn't
go back if it was free..

Quote: Evenbob

I did a free trial of Hulu for $11.99 and just cancelled it before they could charge me.

Most of the movies are time specific, you have to watch them when they're broadcast on a specific network. The free movies suck.

The TV shows never offer complete past seasons, just the most recent season.

Unless it's changed, the $11.99 used to be strictly video on demand, whereas the $39.99 Hulu was Live TV.


Hulu is just BIG corporations. The Walt Disney Company (holds 30% stake), 21st Century Fox (holds 30% stake), Comcast (via NBCUniversal; holds 30% stake),and AT&T (via WarnerMedia; holds 10% stake). Walt Disney is in process of buying 21st Century Fox.

They aren't going to show you past seasons, as that represents a major revenue stream for them. The Video on Demand is commercial free for $11.99 but most of the video can be found on other websites with commercials for free. You just have to go to individual websites like NBC, ABC, FOX, USA, etc.

Quote: Evenbob

Now Hulu is bombarding me with $5.99 offers for 3 months, begging me to come back. I wouldn't go back if it was free..

That price is with commercials and is discounted from $7.99 normal price. You have to pay $11.99 to get it commercial free.

Quote: Evenbob

Prime and Nflix are so much better in every way.

Completely different business models. Netflix is game changer as it is trying to replace broadcast entertainment with on demand viewing. Prime is trying to pull you into the world of Amazon.

Full-disclosure: I'm a penny-pinching cheapskate, often irrationally so.

That said, here's a strategy for saving a few pennies on a Hulu subscription: buy a Hulu gift card at a discounted price.

I regularly purchase digital ecards from www.raise.com which currently has Hulu at 7% off. (That number fluctuates.) Occasionally they have sales where you can apply an extra discount code on top of the original discount. They're having a 1 day sale today for an additional 7% discount with promo code PRE7. Accordingly, I spent $42.87 for a $50 card.

To recap: I'm a penny-pinching cheapskate.

Quote: reno

That said, here's a strategy for saving a few pennies on a Hulu subscription: buy a Hulu gift card .

Why would even a cheapskate spend 10
cents on a crappy service like Hulu. I
just subscribed for 2 free months
this summer. When the first free 30
days ran out, I subbed for 30 more
free days under a different CC and
email.

They suck big time. They have nothing
to offer that Prime and Nflix and Youtube
don't have. On top of that, their service was
constantly interrupting and they have
the worst selection of movies possible.

The cherry on the cake was I cancelled
a week before the 30 days was up and
they charged me anyway. Or tried to
charge me, I used a card that had only
$5 left on it. I use that card for all free
trials, it's a godsend. Go ahead, try
and charge me. I called Hulu and she
was oh so sympathetic until I told her
the charge was denied, Then she got
cold and sarcastic and hung up on me.

Screw Hulu.