Will people start comparing Hulu’s subscription service, rumored to be launching in about a month, to the subscription fees of cable television? At first glance, this might seem like a stretch. Hulu offers roughly 30 hours a programming a day. Compare that to a standard cable service delivering nearly 1,000 hours of programming a day, and Hulu can seem a little thin. Yet Hulu still offers more programming than it is possible for a person to watch, and it includes about half of the most-talked-about programs on television.
Other current video content — news, sports highlights, and of course music — are easily found free on the Internet. Families that are squeezed for cash, or people who subscribe to cable but hardly ever find time to watch it, might find Hulu’s rumored $10 a month subscription fee appealing — providing a semblance of the television experience, but at a fraction of the cost and inconvenience of television.
