Hulu's subscription-free streaming is disappearing, but the free TV shows aren't. Find out where to watch you favorite shows now that Hulu is switching to subscription-only.
Welp, it’s happening. Hulu is finally cutting ties with its free streaming television service, opting to become a subscription-only service. But even though Hulu will no longer offer television content for free on its site, access to free shows won’t disappear altogether. Instead, free streamers will just find them housed in a different place. Enter Yahoo View.
In a blog post on Yahoo’s official Tumblr page, the company announced its latest Hulu partnership details. Starting Monday, Yahoo will offer a new free streaming television service called “Yahoo View,” which is basically Hulu’s free subscription program reincarnated.
“I’m incredibly excited today to announce the launch of Yahoo View , a brand new community TV-watching site,” wrote Jess Lee , vice president of lifestyles product at Yahoo. “ We are partnering with Hulu to offer thousands of free full-length episodes of premium TV shows, anime and Korean drama, as well as movies and TV clips.”
But besides just repackaging what Hulu was already offering, Yahoo has tied in a few extra goodies. When you search for a specific television show, such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine , Yahoo View not only shows all the available episodes you can watch, it includes any available video clip excerpts, extras, interviews and even links to related gifs and posts found on Tumblr.
While not all shows that had been available on Hulu will be accessible via Yahoo View, a large portion of them will be. Hulu will reportedly begin notifying customers its plan to remove all free subscription material this week in preparation for the transition to Yahoo View that will occur over the next several weeks.
While it may seem odd that Hulu would do away with its subscription-free television streaming only to move it to Yahoo View, the move is all about setting Hulu up as a direct competitor to other streaming content creators such as Netflix. Hulu is co-owned by Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, Comcast and Time Warner – all companies who are interested in finding better ways to win subscribers away from Netflix. By moving the free content to Yahoo View, Hulu’s investors can focus their money on creating more quality content available exclusively to Hulu subscribers.
“Our limited free offering simply isn’t aligned with our focus on creating the best experience possible and delivering the best content we can to Hulu subscribers,” Hulu Senior Vice President Ben Smith told the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, moving Hulu’s free streaming options to Yahoo allows advertisers like Verizon, who recently acquired Yahoo, to have first dibs on advertisements attached content.
The Yahoo/Hulu deal comes on the heels of significant financial changes for both companies. Last month, Verizon announced its intent to purchase Yahoo for $4.8 billion , a deal that is expected to close by Q1 2017. Last week, Hulu gained Time Warner as an investor, giving the company a 10 percent stake in the streaming service.
