by Jason Snell
‘Hulu Minus’
The future of TV is exciting, depressing, frustrating—all of these things at once. Moisés Chiullan has a whole lot of great thoughts about the situation, with Hulu at the center:
Time Warner Inc. (not Time Warner Cable, more on it below) wants to effectively buy enough of Hulu to break Hulu’s core business, which provides people with a pretty solid alternative to the old world of cable bundling (provided Hulu has the shows that you want). It’s one that I’ve been using for years now, and I really would rather it not go out the window.
Right now a lot of the forces in the entertainment world seem to be exerting power to make life as painful for cord cutters as possible, while other forces seem to be viewing the advent of cord cutters as an opportunity.
I always bet on the people who are expecting change rather than fighting to prevent it, so I’m guessing the latter will eventually win. But in the meantime, things are going to be ugly and confusing for a while. Maybe a long while.