Streaming Online TV Seen as Threat By Major Networks

Filed in archive Online streaming on December 5, 2011

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Many consumers are turning to streaming online TV services like Hulu as a way to watch their favorite shows, and this is creating a threat to the major TV networks as the new technology begins to muscle in on their business. Hulu, for instance, was launched in 2007 as an experiment by the TV networks into web distribution that would offer an alternative to piracy.

As it's popularity quickly grew, Hulu and similar services actually began to cannibalise the traditional and lucrative cable/satellite distribution model. The situation recently became critical for the networks as the number of households paying for TV dropped for the first time ever last year. Now the CEO of Hulu, who was appointed by the networks, finds himself in a war of sorts with his employers and has threatened to leave the company when his contract expires if his proposals for the future of the company are blocked.