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| Hulu Plus Adds Commercials |
I was surfing the cable channels the other night looking for something entertaining to watch and found nothing. I decided to go streaming and switched on my Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions. Now for the past several months I have been re-watching the classic 1966-71 soap opera Dark Shadows. The series is about a vampire named Barnabus Collins released from his chained coffin finding himself 175 years in the future back at Collinwood. Google or Bing the rest if you want to know more.
I dialed up Hulu Plus because Netflix had just pulled all the Dark Shadows episodes off their list streaming list. That was fine, no problem, Hulu Plus still had them. I opened my list of programs and selected Dark Shadows and selected episode #399
(Abigail insists that Reverend Trask must be summoned again to find and destroy the witch residing in Collinwood.) The episode is 22 minutes in length.
Now when I signed up with Hulu months ago, it was in clear print that even with my paid subscription there would be limited commercials during each episode. No problem, I could accept
limited commercials.
I hit the play button and I immediately viewed a commercial. Only 30 seconds, no biggie. Dark Shadows began with a recap of the previous cliff hanger and then the theme music played. And BAM, another commercial. This time there were three in total. And then back to the show. Six minutes later the program was interrupted with yet more commercials. I was beginning to see a pattern here. In all, there were twelve commercials during this episode.
Finally, the daily cliff hanger aired and the credit music began,
(Eerie organ music followed by a stern voice saying, "This has been a Dan Curtis Production) I then checked the actual time it took to air the episode. Thirty minutes. Let me repeat that. Thirty minutes. Limited commercials my ass.
I understand Hulu Plus is only $8 bucks a month but Hulu needs to be truthful with its customer base. It needs to amend its Mission Statement.
Hulu Plus should state before you click that paid button:
Once you sign up with Hulu plus and we have your $8 bucks, you will be able to watch all programs available on Hulu. However, Hulu will at their discretion insert as many commercials as we see fit and call it limited commercial interruptions when in fact commercials will average 7-8 minutes every 30 minutes of viewing. In essence, you will pay Hulu for the luxury of watching your program whenever you want plus watch the commercials, commercials that you cannot fast forward through as you can do on your cable DVR systems. Thank you for choosing Hulu Plus.
In essence, although I like some of the programs Hulu Plus offers, I do not like the commercials that go along with my paid subscription.
BTW, Netflix has all four seasons of Farscape. Just saying.
LURKING, WE CONTROL YOUR TV SET ON THE GRASSY KNOLL
