It’s not that much more irritating than fast-forwarding through the commercials on your DVR. But given the available selection and the price, many people may forgive 90-second ad breaks at the naturally occurring spots in TV shows. The big downside at Hulu - and for many viewers it’s a deal breaker - is the presence of commercials. Netflix scored a coup here recently with the British crime show “The Fall,” but Hulu has done the best job of securing and promoting interesting foreign shows, from the Israeli drama “Prisoners of War” (the inspiration for “Homeland”) to the Irish comedy “Moone Boy” and the Danish “Curb Your Enthusiasm” clone “Klown,” added two weeks ago. This summer, that includes quite a few of the more noteworthy or popular series: “The Bridge” from FX, “Twisted” and “The Fosters” from ABC Family, “Graceland” from USA, “Longmire” and “The Glades” from A&E, “Devious Maids” from Lifetime, “Mistresses” and “Rookie Blue” from ABC.Īnd beyond the category of “original” lies the broader category of “exclusive,” generally referring to foreign TV series receiving their American premieres on just one online service. A Hulu Plus subscription of $8 a month gives you free viewing of all shows available on Hulu. That’s on top of the $79 annual Amazon Prime membership. The key difference - strangely seldom remarked on - is that Amazon charges at least $1.99 for each episode of many of the shows you would want to watch. The television selections at Amazon and Hulu overlap, and Amazon has more extensive offerings. (Vudu and iTunes also offer current shows, but little or no original-series content.) Netflix is great for past seasons, but for episodes from current seasons, you’re pretty much limited to Amazon Instant and Hulu. While Netflix and Amazon, as well as the Walmart service Vudu, have much more extensive movie offerings than Hulu, things are considerably different when it comes to TV, and especially current shows. But they make up a tiny fraction of these companies’ offerings, and it’s worth stepping back to look at the overall picture. Is that just further proof that Hulu, recently taken off the auction block by its owners (21st Century Fox, the Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal) but still facing an uncertain future, is doomed to second- or third-class status in streaming video? Perhaps, if all you pay attention to is original series. All of Netflix’s heavyweight shows have appeared since then, dominating the market. They’re also less frequent: “The Awesomes,” Hulu’s latest (it goes live on Thursday) and most high-profile original show, is its first since the travel series “Up to Speed” last August. The original series at Hulu are slighter and cheaper, falling somewhere between basic cable and YouTube. It’s undeniable that the shows Netflix has developed have a substance and sheen comparable to the output of premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime. The analogy holds regardless of what you think about ballyhooed Netflix series like “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” and the rebooted “Arrested Development” and whether you think the company’s streaming-video wing deserves its 14 Emmy nominations. By that measure, Hulu is the scrappy, undersized contender of the Big Three, ranking below Netflix, the steamrollering champion, but above Amazon, which is still standing outside the ring lacing its gloves. One way to judge a streaming-video service - the only way, if you look at recent news coverage - is by its original series.
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