“Viewers without Hulu Plus, Dish Network or other participating pay-TV services won’t be able to watch Fox shows such as ‘Bones’ and ‘The Simpsons’ on the Web during that time, Los Angeles-based Fox said today in an e-mailed statement,” Fixmer reports. “The change, effective Aug. 15, is designed to “enhance the value” of pay-TV subscriptions, Michael Hopkins, Fox’s president of affiliate sales, said in the statement. Fox is asking cable systems to pay so-called retransmission fees for the right to carry the network’s signal, giving the broadcaster a stake in protecting pay-TV revenue.”
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Fixmer reports, “Fox, the most popular TV network among the younger viewers targeted by advertisers, is the first broadcaster to create an exclusive period for shows on the Internet. ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co., and CBS Corp. are also weighing a pay-TV wall, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources.”
“Fox’s decision also makes the $7.99-a-month version of Hulu, a provider of TV shows online, comparatively more valuable than its free service,” Fixmer reports. “Hulu, owned by Fox, ABC and Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal, was put up for sale last month. The Los Angeles-based site is drawing interest from Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., among others, people with knowledge of the situation said earlier.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]
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