The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20160808160803/http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/hulus-free-shows-move-to-yahoo-as-it-becomes-a-paid-only-service/
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Technology Lab / Information Technology

Hulu will soon end its free streaming options

ABC, NBC, and Fox shows will move to Yahoo.

Hulu will reportedly stop offering free video, but that streaming service's users still be able to find some of Hulu's free shows thanks to a new business partnership with Yahoo.

In the next few days, Hulu will begin notifying customers of a plan to "shutter its offering of no-cost, ad-supported television and movies," The Hollywood Reporter wrote today. Hulu has already de-emphasized its free offerings, attempting to push customers toward subscription plans that cost $8 to $12 a month.

"For the past couple years, we've been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers," Hulu Senior VP Ben Smith was quoted as saying. "As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy."

The news comes on the same day that Yahoo announced a TV-watching site filled with free TV shows from Hulu. "Yahoo View is the extension of Yahoo's long-standing distribution partnership with Hulu and will offer thousands of TV, anime, Korean drama and movies including full episodes, films, and clips for free," Yahoo said.

Starting this fall, Yahoo View will show the most recent five episodes of shows from ABC, NBC, Fox, and other networks, eight days after the original broadcast dates. Yahoo View will also integrate with the Yahoo-owned Tumblr, letting watchers "go beyond the episode in a community-watching experience and browse photos and GIFs from the passionate Tumblr fandom."

The Yahoo/Hulu deal comes as Yahoo changes ownership and Hulu gains a new investor. Verizon last month signed an agreement to purchase Yahoo for $4.8 billion, a deal that is expected to close by Q1 2017. Meanwhile, last week Hulu sold a 10 percent stake to Time Warner (the programmer, not the similarly named cable company). Hulu's other owners are still the Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, and Comcast.

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