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A number of us here at families.com are big fans of ABC’s Disney-rific show “Once Upon A Time Some of us don’t have the time to watch the show when it airs, so we’re able to catch up with it online later. However, we might not have that option for much longer.
One of the best ways to catch up with shows is through media website Hulu. Hulu streams dozens of shows from various channels: NBC, ABC, FOX, and many of their cable affiliates. In most cases shows are available the morning after they air (FOX makes free viewers wait for a week, unless they pay the $8/month subscription to Hulu Plus), and viewers can watch them then with commercials.
How is this all relevant to Disney? Back in 2009, the Walt Disney Corporation purchased a 27% share in Hulu, making it one of the partial owners. Since then, ABC shows have been available on Hulu. Now that the original five-year deal the various media corporations made over Hulu is coming to an end, all the media giants are scratching their heads over what to do next.
The past five years have been rough on media companies. More and more people are taking to the Internet for their media fix, using websites like Netflix and Hulu. Some customers are even canceling their cable subscriptions in favor of Internet-based options.
Corporations like Comcast and Disney are facing a new era. Their prior business models are increasingly outdated, but they don’t want to change them. It’s like the big panic in the 1980s over VHS – the option to purchase movies and have them at home for unlimited viewing – all over again.
Now, the Daily Tech reports, Disney is considering pulling out of Hulu. Its original deal with the consortium owning the site might be over soon, and it’s not sure whether it wants to continue. Now media companies are squabbling over subscribers – the people who pay for Hulu Plus, giving them access to larger back catalogs of shows and in some cases shows right after they air – and it looks like they might want to take said subscribers to their own websites.
Every network that’s had a stake in Hulu has also made their shows available on their own websites. Hulu’s still the bigger draw, because it’s got the recognizable name and all of the shows in one place (plus, in many cases, a better-functioning media player). If Disney sells its shares in Hulu, it might yank all of ABC’s programming from the site.
Perhaps it’ll still provide that content for free for next day viewing on ABC’s website, which is what it’s done all along in addition using Hulu. Maybe it’ll demand a Hulu Plus-style subscription, just to its own site. Or maybe it’ll remove content from the Internet altogether, trying to force viewers into watching things as they air on television (or recorded with digital cable).
Disney’s notoriously touchy about its properties, and loves to create a “have to get it now” fuss with its Vault practices. I wouldn’t be surprised if it chooses the last option. But I have a hint for you execs up in the top tower of the Mouse House: don’t fall back on outdated business models.
Your famous founder was all about innovation. People who pay $8/month for Hulu Plus aren’t going to pay the same amount of money to only get content from one network. You should embrace new technology and find a way to work with it, rather than digging your heels into the ground and trying to force consumers to follow increasingly outdated forms of media consumption.
Related Articles:
Breaking into the Disney Vault
Disney Parades on Once Upon A Time
Joss Whedon to Direct “Avengers” Sequel
*(This image by thms.nl is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
