Fox Goes Amazon Prime. Hulu Goes Nowhere.

First some disclosure. I’ve been sponsored by Fox for promotion of such shoes as Glee, Fringe and Lie to Me. But that was a while ago, and this news is news period. If you have Amazon Prime (which I’ve had for years simply for free shipping) then you’ve got streaming access to loads of movies and now Fox shows! Yeyy.

This news comes on the heel of the Netflix price disaster, so it’s worth watching.

I still stream more Netflix than Amazon… primarily because I forget I have Amazon. Also the 3 times I’ve purchased a rental on Amazon it’s evaporated on my TiVo before ever being viewable. I’m not trying a fourth time. Amazon- you owe me about $12.

With the Fox content moving to a broader channel of Amazon, it does beg the question about Hulu. Can it survive? I think not. I’ve been pooping it since before it had a name (Google or search this blog for proof). That said, Hulu claims a million paid subscribers and I dig Jason Kilar… I was speaking at Coke with him when the Disney/Hulu deal broke. So how can I be mean?

Ultimately Hulu’s infrastructure may exist, but I think its brand will evaporate as it becomes folded into other services (the TV show portion of X package)… and Hulu will primarily behave a negotiating entity between networks/producers and web distribution platforms like Amazon/Netflix/Blockbusters. Middlewhere. Boring but important.

Now a big finish: you know how for about 5 years I’ve been saying “this is the Christmas where streaming web/TV devices become mainstream”? Well it’s here now. Really. This Christmas you’ll see Roku and other devices hit the sub-$100 price point… let the games begin.