Weird times: Chernin out, Comcast in
The folks at Hulu couldn’t be blamed for losing sleep over the exit of News Corp.’s president and COO, Peter Chernin.
The highly regarded exec basically made Hulu happen, and pushed for its relative independence from the entrenched old media interests at News Corp.
“You can’t protect old business models artificially,” Chernin said, famously, as he campaigned for embeddable video and Web-wide video search on Hulu.
In the past week or so, we’ve seen Hulu reluctantly shut down its feeds to TV.com (CBS) and the freebie Web-to-TV software Boxee, not a good sign for Hulu’s open creative model.
With 78-year-old Rupert Murdoch taking the reins of Fox new media, no one would be stunned to see Hulu become just another self-serving online video outlet, serving up leftovers from its corporate relatives. There are darker scenarios.
Silicon Alley Insider offers five reasons the Chernin exit puts Hulu in danger, with two or three of them making total sense.
Download Movies 101 has long argued that true “new media” won’t emerge in effective and macro-synergistic models until the Boomer executive corps begins to fade in Hollywood and NYC.
Chernin was an exception proving the rule: In my decades of slinging news about the entertainment industry, he was one of the few veteran Hollywood suits who managed not to sputter and drool while discussing the Web and its potentials.
Speaking of old media, Comcast is making noises about offering its cable TV subscribers access to network programs off the Internet.
Yes, the same Comcast that declared cold war on BitTorrent users and was sanctioned by the FCC for secretly capping broadband. The same Comcast that went on to institutionalize its 250-gigabyte cap on monthly bandwidth use.
Safe to assume the cabler likes free-spirited Hulu about as much as P2P networking sites.
Comcast reportedly is in talks with Time Warner Cable and DirecTV about setting subscriber-only viewing sites. Among the content providers in the mix: NBC Universal, the other half of the Hulu ownership.
Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC’s Universal Television Group, told the AP that, “There’s pressure on all of (the TV networks). We get paid quite a bit of money from cable operators. … It’s important we find ways to do business that protects that business model.”
This could be a good thing, if we trust the cablers and satellite companies to participate in the online video party, instead of calling the cops. Maybe. Maybe not.
Much of the free access to TV network video online could, in paranoid theory, be gone within a year if distributors put up enough of a fuss — and enough money to dwarf gains from the shaky online ad model. Remember the bad old days when you couldn’t watch cable TV network programs without paying someone? Not that long ago. …
And so the media empires strike back. You have to wonder what took them so long.
Hulu throws away Boxee
The free Boxee software and the free Hulu video service made a lot of early adopters happy recently, as streaming online video from the networks flowed effortlessly onto TV screens.
It was, many users said, a vision of the TV medium’s future. A happy-happy-joy-joy vision. Too bad that promising pairing of content and delivery systems has vanished, as of right about now.
Hulu has cut off Boxee, responding to complaints from networks and producers. Hulu, as you probably recall, is a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., which owns the Fox TV network.
While Hulu works hard to market itself as a hip independent entity, it’s an online video operation owned by control-freak content providers. (It’s a wonder that Hulu exists at all.)
Boxee chieftain Avner Ronen blogged thusly:
“Two weeks ago Hulu called and told us their content partners were asking them to remove Hulu from boxee. we tried (many times) to plead the case for keeping Hulu on boxee, but on Friday of this week, in good faith, we will be removing it.”
Over on the Hulu blog, the word from CEO Jason Kilar (pictured) was, “We are under no illusions about the likely Boxee user response from this move”:
“While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence — bumps and all — we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners.”
The blog entry goes on to say some carefully worded things about the online video medium’s complexity and Hulu’s “tough mission” of making viewers and providers happy.
Boxee, which admittedly has no particular business model, could find itself back in the shadows after this brush-off from the networks. The entertainment industry, collectively, isn’t all that smart about forward-technologies, but it has learned some hard lessons in the past decade or so. One of those is to not let startups get near their revenue streams.
And, the industry has learned to act before outside technologies burrow their ways into the hearts of viewers.
Blaming Hulu for caving in to corporate interests is a waste of emotional energy, but that hasn’t stopped plenty of people from trying:
“If this is how you treat your users I won’t be a user anymore. Goodbye Hulu.” And for many, it’s hello again to illegal, high-quality, ad-free downloads.
TV.com, from CBS Interactive, meanwhile, isn’t taking a similar take-down notice from Hulu gracefully.
“CBS Interactive is well within its rights to stream Hulu video content on TV.com under its agreement with Hulu. We are evaluating our next steps at this time,” the company said in a statement.
TV.com wasn’t a factor when Hulu and TV.com first hooked up, but CBS has since bought the video web site as part of a larger deal. TV.com’s relaunch of a few months back was ridiculed as a blantant rip of Hulu’s design and functionality.
TV.com and Hulu are now competitors, whether or not CBS wants to admit the obvious. Nothing like a legal threat to get that bad blood flowing.
Apple preps streaming online video
Downloading movies always was a bit of an odd duck. In some ways, it’s an extension of the old need to own an artifact such as a DVD, possessive proof that you’re down with “Office Space” or “Citizen Kane.”
When we buy a movie off iTunes, the file roosts on the local hard drive, gobbling up space. Kind of like a big DVD box set you rarely touch.
The big streamers — Netflix, Amazon — simply send the content to you, and that’s that. No hangovers, no commitments. Soon, all entertainment media will work that way. All those MP3 files don’t make much sense either — at least if you’re engaged in forward thinking. You want to hear “Unchained Melody” on Valentine’s, who cares where the file sits.
Now comes news that Apple’s iTunes 8 upgrade will include streaming video for video purchases, meaning the movies or TV shows remain on Apple’s computers, not yours.
Apple Insider, which broke the story, says the feature is called iTunes Replay. The tech blog says the scheme will have iTunes functioning as a media server, from which you call up the movies you’ve paid for, whenever you want. Replay on demand.
One clear beneficiary will be the lagging Apple TV box, which should be able to send the video stream to your TV without its current minor hassles and storage limits.
Of course, streaming high-quality video requires big pipes and up-to-date broadband service. Those with slower streams will need to stay with downloads, which usually perform flawlessly at the local level. And those hit movies won’t be of much use when you’re flying the unfriendly skies.
Silicon Valley Insider urges Apple to produce a cheap Apple TV box without a hard drive, a video sister to the AirPort Express wifi distributor.
Meanwhile, Netflix announced today that it broke through the 10 million-subscriber barrier. So far this year, that adds up to about 600,000 new subs. Who knows how many came aboard exclusively for the Watch Instantly streaming service (no additional cost with a regular subscription), but most analysts are crediting the Netflix online videos with boosting the bottom line.
And Blockbuster unveiled its plan for video game rentals by mail, allowing the waiting-line specialist to compete with Gamefly.
Vudu shrinks basic box to $149
Broadband movie service Vudu has halved the price of its basic set-top box, with the trusty BX100 now retailing for $149.
Vudu, a pioneer in high-definition online video, also cut the price of its “Vudu XL” premium box to $499, from $999.
The BX100 still doesn’t come with wireless, so you’ll get a bit of a break on that kit, too: $20 off to the price point of $79.
Apple TV goes for $229, making the Vudu a strong option for those seeking another black block in the living room. Apple’s box has 160 gigs of storage, while the basic Vudu holds 250GB. Vudu says it has more than 13,000 titles, a convenient 1,300 of them in high-def.
Vudu cited a strong holiday season for the ability to make the big MSRP price cuts. The online video service ran a special in December that offered the player for $99 if you sprang for $50 in movie credits. This time, no credits but still the attractive $149 price.
“We are reaping the rewards of success in the retail channel over the holidays, lower component prices and higher movie revenues. The combination of these factors has enabled us to lower the price of VUDU and bring it within reach of more consumers,” said Vudu exec vp Edward Lichty.
Of course, once you own the box, it’s time to buy movies and TV shows. Your basic just-out-of-theaters movie title rents for $4 and sells for $20. Vudu has no monthly fee.
The Vudu box went for $400 a year ago, before a price cut to $295 in response to an Apple TV move.
Netflix floats streaming HBO video
Netflix wants to know: Would you pay another $10 a month for HBO shows and movies via the streaming video service Watch Instantly?
The mail-rental giant asked subscribers about their interest in online versions of current HBO series such as “Big Love” and “Flight of the Concords,” as well as oldie goldies “The Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under” and “The Wire.” And a bunch of movies showing their age.
Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming service comes with a regular subscription. It features mostly catalog movies and indie fare but has a solid 12,000 or so movies on tap.
The poll cited “HBO content,” not specific channels. There are seven.
Netflix has been moving aggressively into the broadband streaming video business, finding hardware outlets recently on the Xbox 360, Tivo, and Blu-ray boxes from LG and Samsung. The HBO fare would be available via those channels, as well as on PCs.
$10? (Well, make it $9.99.) Sounds like a non-starter. If you get the Time Warner premium service via cable or satellite, who needs it? And $10 will get you most of the way to paying for the cable tier, anyway. The value to such a service may be in exploring older HBO series such as “Rome,” maybe.
“Big Love” looks surprisingly strong this season, but for the most part HBO’s glory days have come and gone. I’m thinking the price point for HBO streaming video via Netflix is something like $5 a month (make that $4.99). Even though HBO fare goes for $1.99 an episode on iTunes. Remember, Watch Instantly is free … of additional charge.
Hacking Netflix broke the story. Video Business quoted a Netflix flack as saying hundreds of similar polls are emailed out each month, and that there were no talks with HBO anyway.
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