I just got a message from Hulu offering a commercial-free option for $12/month. Truthfully, I don't mind commercials but I can remember when cable television was commercial-free, or they were saved until the end of the program. Now, El Rey and Sundance play movies unedited on Time Warner (which I can't wait to be away from) but then comes a commercial when it's getting good. Arrgh!
I mostly use Netflix and another app my boyfriend found online that streams as well. I don't remember the name. I live movie streamers and Hulu is not the best on that, it's better for tv.
I joined Netflix mainly to enjoy watching movies without commercials. Like @jneanz stated it's annoying just when you're at the edge of your seat and holding onto a pillow waiting and then a commercial interrupts. And a lot of the movies are cut shorter for obscenity or nudity which takes away from essence of the movie, I think.
I would love if commercials were just at the end of the show, but obviously that's not good for marketers because most of us wouldn't watch. As for me, I do use Netflix, the free version of Hulu, Amazon Prime occasionally, and HBG Go for my streaming options. The only one I pay for specifically for TV viewing purposes is Netflix, though.
Netflix. All over Netflix. I've completely grown out of the TV habits that I used to have when streaming wasn't available, and I can't bear to watch normal television anymore. I go nuts trying to find something to watch whenever I stay at my parents' house, and they have hundreds of channels. Netflix provides much better service at a fraction of the price, and if I can't find anything to watch there, I just flip on YouTube. If nothing else there are tons of documentaries on YouTube waiting for viewers.
I am guilty of using the free streaming websites, simply because there's nothing really stopping me, because it's cheaper and easier. The quality may not be the best but I still get to enjoy my shows and watch them whenever. P.S: I'm actually surprised that some people are willing to pay for a discount rather than not pay at all despite being on "Money Saving" forum.
Some are worth it, I used to use Amazon and Roku, but ended up watching things to make the most of my subscriptions, because I wanted to get my moneys worth. I use coke and popcorn these days, which is full of ads, but you are allows to download them via tubeoffline. It may take time to do, but at least it's cheaper.
I used Hulu around the time it first came out and I then they started adding the Hulu Plus and I left, haven't been back since. I mainly use netflix now for TV shows and recorded all current shows on my DVR so I can skip the commercials.
I use Netflix, I like it better than HuLu with the commercials. The BBC plays the show thru and all the commercials at the end just one time. I like that.
I also prefer Netflix. You can't go wrong for the price, and they have the very best selection of shows. I don't watch much television; so I seldom watch any of the TV series on Netflix; but occasionally I have done that, and I like that you can go from one episode to the next as fast as you want to watch, and I like that there are no commercials. Since we also have Amazon Prime, we watch the Amazon movies as well. One great thing about Amazon is that they have both free movies and rental ones; so you can watch newer programs if you do not mind paying to rent them. We have tried Hulu+ before (several times)when they offered a free promotion; but because of all of the commercials, we didn't watch it hardly at all. So, it didn't make any sense to pay for it when we didn't even watch the free trial.
I use the free option on hulu and I pay for Netflix and so far it has been enough for me in terms of choices. I have a lot of hulu shows I want to watch but I don't mind missing out on a few if it means less expenses on my end. I also don't mind the commercials although sometimes it glitches and makes the video play from the start and it's hard to find where I left off, but other than that I think paying for either is a good option.
I had a subscription to both Netflix and Hulu, but let both of them lapse for various reasons. Hulu in particular is not a really good deal at all. They misrepresent how much "content" they really have, so if you are browsing through the site you might think they have a lot of shows you watch, when in fact, they merely have a page on their site about the show, but no actual episodes available. Or if they do have episodes, they may be from older seasons and not the current season. In some cases they only have short clips of certain shows, not full episodes. None of this makes any sense to be honest. It's probably due to all sorts of wacky licensing deals they are doing behind the scenes. And it's infuriating that they still force you to watch a ton of commercials when you are a paid subscriber. Why should I be forced to waste my internet connection to download all these commercials, and possibly go over my monthly data caps in the process? Netflix is much better, with it being commercial free and very easy to use. They don't have many of the daily shows I watch, such as the late night talk shows, or the daytime talk shows, judge shows, etc... though. But sometimes I run out of things to watch on Netflix that interest me, so I will cancel my subscription until they get some newer content.
I ran out of things I wanted to watch last time I had a subscription to Netflix, so I cancelled it. I always knew I'd be back, though, and I just signed back up with them yesterday. I'm going to go with HuluPlus for now, too, and I might sign up for the commercial free plan, even though it costs a few dollars more per month. I am a bit concerned about missing live television when I cut the cord, but I still haven't totally decided whether I want to cut back to local channels only (to offset the $20 unbundling fee if I go down to only one service, which would be my internet), or eat that cost and try out SlingTV.
We are still going through the same decisions, and have decided to keep the cable for a little while longer. We have been watching the election debates, and those are usually held on the cable networks, like Fox News, or CNN News. We have to keep our whole package to get either one of these, otherwise we only get local news. Xfinity agreed to take $20 off our charges for the next year, so that puts us back where we were before they raised the prices on us. I think that paying the few dollars per month for no commercials on Hulu is well worth it. Bobby hated the commercials, and I finally jut cancelled Hulu before because we were paying for it, and he didn't even look at it. Now, he says that he finds programs and movies that he likes on there, and with no commercials, he watches them on the iPad.
Well I really fell out of love with Hulu when they got rid of all the free options, but I guess I cannot say that I am too surprised there because that is just what all these companies do. They suck you in with the free stuff and then figure that you'll fork it over later. I just might have to fall for it though, because Netflix is getting a little boring to me.
As much as I'm intrigued by TV streaming sites and apps, I couldn't just give up on our satellite cable television. Although the commercials can be annoying, there are a few channels that don't depend on advertisers and can actually run shows and movies free from long and winding commercials. HBO doesn't have commercials until after every movie. Thank goodness. Star Movies unfortunately has commercials in between, however.
I always rolled my eyes at people who said "I don't own a TV" - but once I started watching TV through Netflix it suddenly dawned on me that I was never turning on the "regular" TV anymore. I don't have cable for budgeting reasons, so regular TV is rather boring by comparison anyway. In order to see the good stuff, I was binge watching Netflix and never looking back. I think it's that way for most people anyway. Between services like Netflix and Hulu ... and DVRs, no one is ever saying "oh, it's Thursday, I have to rush home to see xyz".
I am subscribed to Netflix and i have no regrets so far. It does the job and i'm happy with the service. I haven't tried Hulu but after reading some of your comments, i might get to it for the free service. LOL
I think Hulu is pretty good for the older classic TV shows-and you can only find them on Hulu and some of them are-my so-called life,7th heaven,dawson's creek,sabrina the teenage witch,and seinfield to name a few. Also they show current TV shows 24 hours after the show premiered while the other ones like Netflix shows up a year later.
I have been using Netflix for a while now, and boy is it amazing, it has the majority of my favorite shows, and their own productions are amazing like Narcos.
