“News Corp.’s Fox television network will delay Web access to new shows for eight days after their initial broadcast, creating a new TV pay wall to protect advertising and subscription sales,” Andy Fixmer reports for Bloomberg.
“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.”
Advertisement: Limited Time: Students, Parents and Faculty save up to $200 on a new Mac.
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.]
I’m pretty sure the supposed “interest” Apple is showing in Hulu is being rumored by Hulu themselves, in an effort to get other potential buyers to make higher bids. What would Apple gain by buying Hulu, exactly? Lots of junky Flash technology it has no use for? Rotten deals with content providers like this one?
I’m pretty sure that the deals Hulu, Netflix, etc. have with the content providers includes a clause that makes the deal null and void if they are bought out or merge.
Or not. Those deals are what give the company value, and are part of why they are bought.
This certainly doesn’t enhance the value of paid TV in my book. So I have to wait a little bit longer to see the episode. So what? I’ll wait.
… any other “news” would be a week out of date by the time it they would allow it shown for “free”. Of course, even THEY admit that their more “controversial” programs are “entertainment”, or “commentary”, rather than “fact-based” – just that they don’t admit that until called on it.
Friends don’t let friends view NewzCrap content.
Translation:
Don’t hold your breath, Rupert. I wouldn’t hand you a warm bottle of urine if you were dying of thirst.
Remember, the ‘News’ in FauxNewz is a brand title- not a statement of fact.
Just like the “News” for the other networks.
Yep… Fox News must not be legit. After all, the channel has higher ratings in all time slots than the other news channels combined. Perhaps word has gotten out that there’s an option to the left wing, liberal spin machines that are NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, NPR, and CNN (although they’re trying to move center).
Progressiveagentprovocateur, do you think ALL those people who prefer Fox News are wrong? Or, is it possible, that there really aren’t as many liberals as the left wants to believe? Could it be the country really does lean center-right. No matter how much you far left liberals (who call yourself ‘progressive’ LMAO) try to smear Fox News, you can’t escape the facts and you don’t have the numbers.
Higher ratings? As in, more viewers (“users”) than the other networks?
You must also believe that Windows is the more legit OS, since they still have close to 90% market share.
One big reason Fox “News” has such high ratings is that there’s only one right-leaning news channel (if there’s any others, they’re doing a piss poor job marketing themselves), while there are many centrist/left-leaning ones. Why doesn’t any other right-leaning news channel start up to compete with Fox? Are those on the right happy with only one voice speaking to them?
I suspect another reason is that centrist and left-leaning viewers just don’t bother watching the news, because they know half of anything being reported is bullshit anyway. That’s why The Daily Show beats out all of Fox News combined:
http://www.politicususa.com/en/jon-stewart-fox-ratings
Yeah… Just look at China. Just because they are a billion people doesn’t make them right.
STFU, moron. You and FOX NOISE were made for each other.
Enhancing the value of paid content by diminishing the value of free content. The new double-speak.
Yeah, we wouldn’t want to _actually_ enhance value, would we?
+1
They’re increasing value by taking some existing ability/feature away? Nice.
It’s not technically free: ads. We pay with our viewing of ads that are frequent and sadly more intrusive than than what’s comparable on tv.
Fox is free on tv for many people as it is, so whatever they’re trying to accomplish is not what they claim.
It’s no money out of my pocket, so that’s what counts. 😀
I won’t watch Fox TV shows during their broadcast runs anymore. Too often, Fox cancels a show I’ve become invested in (and I don’t just mean Firefly!)
I won’t get fooled again. I’ll wait until the season is over, and catch up via Netflix after the DVDs are released.
Firefly, Drive. 24 to a point.
Fox has had some stupid moves on the TV side.
I just watched Firefly again last week, canceling that was a really bad move..
This really hurts drama’s where you miss one week. If I miss an episode on tV, then for the rest of the year I can ONLY watch online since I would be behind a week.
I personally don’t mind because I only watch online anyway and as long as they provide the show I don’t care about the 8 day delay. I wouldn’t even notice.
Ever heard of usenet?
Actually, you have a very valid point. You’re already paying through the nose for cable tv service; but if you happen to miss an episode of your favorite show, you have to pay again to catch up in time to watch the next episode. That totally stinks.
And this is why Apple will never buy Hulu. Hulu is a mess, with no consistency, and controlled by freakin incompetent nut-cases from the studios. I gave up going to Hulu a long time ago.
And Fox’s new 7-day delay policy is an prime example of the stupidity of the big media. Let’s say I miss an episode of Fringe because I decide I want to go see a movie or have a beer with friends on Friday night. Last year I could just go to the net a day or two later and watch the missed episode on Fox’s website. Now, I will have to wait a week. But wait, I can’t watch the next Fringe because it is an on-going storyline. That means I am stuck watching Fringe a week or more late for the rest of the season. OR I find Fringe on a pirate site (not above doing that I must say). OR I say fuck it, and no longer watch Fringe, the last TV show I actually care about.
Keep up the good work Fox, you are close to losing all your viewers.
Correction: “Viewers without Hulu Plus, Dish Network or other participating pay-TV services won’t be able to legally watch Fox shows such as ‘Bones’ and ‘The Simpsons’ on the Web…”
Torrent anyone? It may not be legal, but people will find other ways to see what they want when it becomes to cumbersome, either in time or money. I fail to see why the music/movie businesses fail to see!
Torrents are legal. Copyright infringement is not.
Question: All the crap you see about “illegal downloads”. Everything I’ve seen seems to be people in trouble for uploading, not downloading. So, if you’re strictly downloading, are you doing anything illegal???
yes. but for the most part they just yell at you through your ISP.
they can tell the ISP that you are downloading illegal torrents, and show proof, the ISP not wanting to go though the legal hassle… will inform you that you were tagged as pirating.
the ISP can and will terminate your contract.
while they technically can go after you, they tend to go after the big uploaders first.
if/when they run out of them… they will go after you.
Remember Metallica’s BS lawsuits…. they targeted downloaders as well as uploaders.
some studios/artists/publishers would rather go after the uploader, while some go after both sides.
and those that “miss” a show.. you really need to look into DVR.
You can even make one.. they work great.
I suspect that downloading is also illegal, but the way most bit torrent clients work, you are actually uploading what you have downloaded as you are downloading the rest of the file.
l33ching rulz!
Well, Fux them then…..
I am going to enhance the value of your life, by keeping your son locked up, the first week of every month.
This 8 day delay nonsense is stupid.
They lost me as a viewer for Terra Nova because of this.
I missed one episode and now it is worthless for me to continue to watch it because I will always be one episode behind. Another example of the modern day idiot TV execs out there. This is what happens when the idiot kids of the first gen execs take over and have no clue what to do.
By the way, Allen Gregory sucks and should be cancelled and should never have been green lighted. Stop kissing Jonah Hill’s no talent a$$.
Hi there! I could have sworn I�ve been to this web site before but after going through a few of the posts I realized it�s new to me. Regardless, I�m definitely pleased I discovered it and I�ll be book-marking it and checking back often!