One major advantage Hulu has over its competitors is that it gives subscribers the ability to stream certain shows the very next day after they’ve been aired. That really is something worth paying for since it can take several months for new seasons of shows to arrive on other services like Netflix. However, if a new report is to be believed, Hulu could stop offering next-day streaming.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Time Warner is interested in purchasing a 25 percent stake in Hulu so that it can prevent the service from offering next-day streaming for current seasons of network and premium television.
Apparently Time Warner is of the view that next-day streaming is only going to accelerate cord-cutting across the country and it doesn’t want that to happen, so if it has to pick up a 25 percent stake in Hulu to make that happen it’s going to do just that.
Hulu boasts more than 10 million subscribers and some of them might not like the fact that they will no longer be able to stream episodes from current seasons of network shows on the very next day.
The streaming service would then have to increase its investment in original content to ensure that it adds more value for money to subscribers and enough incentive for potential subscribers to start paying for its service.
The report mentions that the sale of 25 percent of Hulu stick is in preliminary discussion phase right now and no official offer has been made as yet by Time Warner, so this could go either way.
Filed in . Read more about Entertainment, Hulu and Time Warner.