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TECHNOLOGY A23
Tuesday 9 February 2016
TV producers may start making you wait for new shows online
ANICK JESDANUN In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, file photo, a person displays Netflix on a tablet in North Andover, Mass. The apparent anxiety at
AP Technology Writer Associated Press television companies is
NEW YORK (AP) — The common to any industry
Golden Age of Online Tele- tablished media compa- that’s faced what Harvard
vision may be in peril. business professor Clayton
Streaming TV has gotten nies looking to protect their Christensen calls “The In-
popular as several online novator’s Dilemma.” That’s
services such as Netflix established partners and when established compa-
make past seasons of TV nies find their big, lucra-
shows available for binge- deals, whether viewers like tive businesses undercut
watching, while Hulu offers by innovative rivals with
episodes from the current it or not. cheaper — and, at least at
season. first, less profitable — alter-
Now, some television com- Hulu already has pulled natives. The big companies
panies are balking at giv- can’t embrace the new
ing them timely access to back in recent years. When approaches without help-
shows. ing cannibalize their own
The big worry: Making it launched nearly a de- cash cows.
streaming TV too pleasant Viewed through that prism,
might encourage viewers cade ago, the service of- Hulu has been a mostly
to cut back or drop their successful half-measure. Its
cable service. Cable and fered most shows from its biggest accomplishment
satellite companies now may have been to help ac-
pay TV networks billions of network parents the morn- custom people to paying
dollars a year to carry their for TV over the Internet. Giv-
channels. In turn, TV pro- ing after they aired. These en that it was established
duction companies make when piracy was rampant,
a lot from licensing fees days, many Fox and ABC that’s no small feat.
paid by the networks. Though Hulu still offers ad-
Cord-cutting could jeop- shows require a Hulu or supported shows you can
ardize all of those arrange- watch for free, more view-
ments, and the audience cable subscription for next- ers are paying at least $8
and ad revenue boost from a month for viewing on
the Internet might not be day viewing. Otherwise, mobile and streaming-TV
enough to make up for any devices and for full current
revenue losses from tradi- viewers have to wait eight This Saturday, June 27, 2015, file photo, shows the Hulu logo on seasons of some shows. As
tional TV. days — or a month in the a window at the Milk Studios space in New York, where a replica of last April, the last time
Time Warner Inc., which case of Fox’s “So You Think of the “Seinfeld” set was on display. Hulu disclosed figures, it had
has both networks and a You Can Dance.” And for 9 million paying subscribers,
production business, has a 50 percent increase from
been exploring the possi- Fox, Hulu now has just the can’t put the genie back war,” said John Buffone, an the previous year. Netflix,
bility of holding back some past four episodes — not in the bottle,” said Anthony analyst at the NPD Group. meanwhile, had 45 million
of its DC Comics super- five — for free. DiClemente, an analyst at As services like Netflix and U.S. streaming subscribers
hero shows such as “The All online services, mean- Nomura Securities. “Once Hulu boom, he said, televi- at the end of 2015, a 14
Flash” and “Supergirl.” If while, have been dabbling people are accustomed to sion companies are look- percent increase.
it took that step, viewers in creating their own televi- it, that’s going to be the ex- ing for ways they can hold Yet the traditional TV busi-
might have to wait years to sion shows. Netflix won ac- pectation.” onto more of those stream- ness remains sizable — and
watch the most recent epi- colades for such original Traditional cable and satel- ing revenues themselves. will remain so for years. Even
sodes online; now, they’re shows as “House of Cards,” lite TV services have been The changes are especially with a 1 percent drop over
typically available no more while Hulu commissioned in slow decline for years, noticeable at Hulu, which the past year, 98.3 million
than a year after airing. a fourth season of “The in part because younger is owned by parents of the U.S. households subscribe
Hulu may be next. The Wall Mindy Project” when Fox audiences aren’t signing very television networks to a cable or satellite TV
Street Journal recently re- canceled it. Original shows up and are turning to on- — Fox, ABC and NBC — service, research firm Mof-
ported that Time Warner is help services set themselves line options instead. The threatened by changes in fettNathanson estimates.
in talks to invest in Hulu and apart from each other and decline isn’t big enough to the way we watch TV. Hulu As a result, expanded
has told Hulu’s owners that could ease the impact of threaten cable and televi- has set itself apart by offer- streaming deals might not
it wants to curtail current- any pullback in traditional sion companies immedi- ing new TV episodes faster make up for what TV com-
season TV episodes, which TV shows. But for now, these ately, but they are taking than its rivals; making view- panies might lose if that big
Hulu now makes available services are mostly about notice. And the numbers ers wait longer could limit its business continues to shrink.
as early as the next day. giving viewers a chance to hide the fact that many appeal. The fees that cable and
It’s not yet clear what such catch up on what’s been subscribers are opting for “Hulu’s DNA has been re- satellite companies pay
restrictions might look like. shown on traditional TV — cheaper packages with cent episodes of TV shows,” television networks and sta-
Time Warner and Hulu and giving viewers less of a fewer channels. said Glenn Hower, an ana- tions to carry their channels
didn’t respond to requests reason to tune in. “What we’re seeing is a lyst at the research firm are estimated at $60 billion
for comment, though Time “To a certain degree, you constant game of tug-o- Parks Associates. this year, up 6 percent from
Warner may reveal more 2015, according to media
of its digital strategy when research firm SNL Kagan.
it reports quarterly earnings From that standpoint, How-
Wednesday. er said, it makes sense to
The tremors emanating cling to older, well-estab-
from Time Warner are just lished partners — the cable
the latest instance of es- companies.q
