Hulu will no longer be offering free TV.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming service is eliminating its no-cost, ad-supported TV and movies, which has been a central offering of Hulu’s since its launch roughly nine years ago. The service will begin to inform its customers of the overhaul within the next couple of days. Members who have been relying on the free service will be offered free trials of a paid subscription.
Hulu started its run in 2007 with a collection of free shows, clips and movies. It was considered a pioneer at a time in which there was very little streaming on the Internet. But while trying to play catch-up to Netflix, Hulu is starting to change its business strategy. Hulu currently sports 12 million subscribers.
The company has steadily reduced the role its free content plays in its main offerings over the last several years. In fact, in 2017 Hulu will launch a live TV service. As of now, the free content offerings are no longer feasible.
“For the past couple years, we’ve been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers,” Ben Smith, Hulu senior VP, told THR. “As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy.”