Internet TV is about business, but consumers drive it
May 12, 2009 — Abigail Hamilton
I love NewTeeVee because they are always at the forefront of analyzing Internet TV offerings from a consumer-advocate point of view, while understanding and exposing the business issues that come into play. Their notes about Hulu today are right on.
Because Hulu has created such an attractive, easy-to-use service that people do unabashedly love, it is all the more disappointing to users when that promise goes unfulfilled. The average viewer doesn’t know or care that licensing restrictions mean Hulu can only offer five full episodes of the current season of 30 Rock and no episodes from seasons one or two. The average viewer just gets frustrated that the missing episodes aren’t there. People are used to the networks callously screwing them over, but Hulu? Hulu said it was our friend.
That’s why there was such a hullabaloo when Hulu pulled itself off of Boxee, or blocked international users from sneakily checking out the service through Hotspot Shield.
I think this is important because the future of online TV is — whether we like it or not — about business relationships. Content providers have to get paid in ways that consumers can stomach. It’s that simple. Partnerships and new business models will prevail.
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