As we sink exponentially deeper into the digital age, innovations continue to change the entertainment industry. The Internet is becoming a very real substitute for movie theaters, TV, and even home video. So why fight it?
Hulu is a brand new, just launched service where people can go to watch movies and TV episodes for free. All legal, of course. It's a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. and provides content by FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and more. Better yet, they allow embedding of these videos, so anybody can post full length movies on their MySpace, blogs, or whatever.
Sure, the selection is dodgy now, but the service is only a few days old. By this time next year, this website could potentially be a mecca for finding rare movies. For now, you can enjoy stuff like this classic right here:
Another thing that's really cool? You can adjust the start and end points of the clip for embedding. So you can choose to embed just a portion of the movies instead of the whole thing.
So what's different? Why the embrace of free distribution? Naturally, these movies and TV episodes have commercials in them. What we have here is not a free giveaway, but rather an alternative to television. They still make money off of selling advertisements like regular TV, but you just get to choose what's on.
Sounds like a dull effort? Of course, but this is what we have to look forward to in the future. There will be no further need for broadcast television and scheduled programmings. Everything will be On Demand at your leisure. It'll be interesting to see how Hulu grows and attracts content providers. Maybe the day will come when we see a new movie released on DVD and Hulu simultaneously.
