Time Warner Eyes Hulu Stake, Wants Current Seasons Removed Hulu's fatal flaw has historically been that as a product of the industry itself, it hasn't worked very hard to disrupt it. As a result, it has suffered from sometimes seeming like a glorified ad for traditional television. There's some indications that's slowly changing, including a ramped up catalog, a new ad free version and placing fewer ads in the ad supported option. But reports suggest that an ownership shake up could result in Hulu backtracking when it comes to real disruption, resulting in a service that appeals less to would-be cord cutters.

quote: Time Warner believes that the presence of full, current seasons on Hulu—or anywhere else outside the bounds of pay-TV—is harmful to its owners because it contributes to people dropping their pay-TV subscriptions, or "cutting the cord."In the discussions about taking a 25% equity stake in Hulu, Time Warner has told the site's owners that it ultimately wants episodes from current seasons off the service, at least in their existing form, although that is not a condition for its investment, according to the people familiar with the discussions. Hulu would get a much-needed cash infusion, but on the other hand would be subject to yet another owner (alongside Comcast, Disney and 21st Century Fox) that's too worried about disrupting the legacy TV cash cow to do what needs to be done to be truly successful in the online streaming space. Comcast was prohibited from meddling with Hulu management as part of its 2011 acquisition of NBC, but that condition had a seven year window. Time Warner is looking to acquire a 25% Hulu stake -- but the company would apparently prefer it if the streaming service took a major step backwards and stopped offering current seasons of shows Hulu would get a much-needed cash infusion, but on the other hand would be subject to yet another owner (alongside Comcast, Disney and 21st Century Fox) that's too worried about disrupting the legacy TV cash cow to do what needs to be done to be truly successful in the online streaming space. Comcast was prohibited from meddling with Hulu management as part of its 2011 acquisition of NBC, but that condition had a seven year window.







News Jump Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news Big CBRS Auction Winners: Verizon, Windstream, Dish, Cablecos; Altice USA makes play for Atlantic Broadband; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 78 comments

moonpuppy (banned)

join:2000-08-21

Glen Burnie, MD 19 recommendations moonpuppy (banned) Member Do it Time Warner....... I dare you. Take the Hulu service so far back that it fails and you lose tons of money for being idiots and not realizing your stupidity.



Make your stock worthless and have even more people not only cut the cord but head over to Netflix.

Camelot One

MVM

join:2001-11-21

Greenwood, IN 15 recommendations Camelot One MVM I remember when..... I remember when companies said "Hey, people want to buy (insert thing), lets find a way to sell them what they want!"

Now it is "They'll buy what we damn well tell them to buy, when we tell them to buy it, and how".



Removing the current seasons from Hulu isn't going to discourage cord cutting, it is only going to encourage piracy.

karlmarx

join:2006-09-18

Moscow, ID 10 recommendations karlmarx Member Streisand Effect Wow, does TWC even know what that is? Trust me, once they remove current seasons of shows, piracy rates will soar again. Probably the only thing Hulu offers right now that netflix does not, is having last nights TV shows online. Take that away, not only will Hulu loose ALL value, they will just drive people to get their shows in other ways. Once you start offering something that people want, if you are stupid enough to stop offering it, everyone will find another way to get it. In this case, piracy. The greed and shortsightedness of the megacorps never ceases to amaze me.

howsthis999

@charter.com 4 recommendations howsthis999 Anon Alternate headlines Time Warner Wants Hulu To Fail

Time Warner Looks To Increase Piracy

Remember Time Warner Once Thought Merging With AOL Was A Good Idea Fast Turtle

join:2008-02-19 3 recommendations Fast Turtle Member Hulu Is Dead to Me Thankfully I don't watch TV anyhow so it's not something that really concerns me but mum - she's in her late 70's still watches and Hulu might have been an option for her instead of the ever increasing Cable bill, now thogh, it's a non starter and I guess I'll have to ween her from TV with her Going Cold Turkey.

Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 3 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon Essentially, we don't want to see it this way, we want to sell it the other Money from here isn't enough, we want more, and the only way to force that is to remove choices. That's never going to work the way you think it will. Ostracus

join:2011-09-05

Henderson, KY 3 recommendations Ostracus Member One down, more to go. Good for TW.inc. One more subscription for me to cut.

DeathK

Premium Member

join:2002-06-16

Cincinnati, OH 3 recommendations DeathK Premium Member Hey Time Warner Go pound sand.

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 2 recommendations maartena Premium Member Too late. The cord is cut. If Hulu removes current seasons of TV shows, I will just cancel their subscription and go back to piracy. Regardless, I will not be paying for cable TV.