Dear Hulu,
It was an interesting hour we had together, your Plus and I, but it really didn't take long for me to realize that you have no idea how to be of service to me.
Maybe my standards are too high--but do you really want to call Netflix on WMC a high standard for a user interface? Even Netflix overall can be improved, even in a browser, but compared to you I think navigating Netflix in a browser is a hundred times easier and more productive.
And yet you want to charge me the same $8/month as Netflix does to stream your content?
And let's discuss that concept for a moment. I'll break it down into two parts, in reverse:
1) Content. It's difficult to tell exactly what content you have, mostly because your browser-based interface is so incredibly gawdawful bad. But in addition, you seem to have this idea that we're happy to pay for, oh, only the last 5 episodes of a show--such as The Simpsons. Wait a minute, doesn't Fox have an interest in Hulu? What's the idea here? Don't you have ALL the episodes? Maybe you do, and the interface simply got in my way. But I did manage to find I Dream of Jeannie, and you have--again, thanks to the bad interface--as near as I can tell only 18 episodes available? And you can't figure out how to present that in any sensible fashion? Not that I want to watch that show, but if the world is such that the content owners themselves, in their Hulu guise, can't even bring themselves to put a 45 year old show into my web browser--well, that's beyond sad. It's also not something I'm interested in rewarding with my $8 payment every month.
2) Streaming. I don't know what content you have due to your bad interface, but I have to put with that interface in my web browser because you can't even figure out how to stream what you have to all platforms such as smart TVs, Roku boxes, and tablets. Really? Netflix can figure it out, but you can't? So I might run into things that I can't stream HERE on Roku, but I can stream over THERE on a web browser? Well, let's go back to that horrible gawdawful web browser interface again--you know, the one that makes me run away far and fast.
I remember when you had the Hulu Desktop application. "10 foot living room interface," you called it. Because I'm in my living room at the 10 foot level, I thought I'd give that a try. Finding it was almost impossible--because you don't have it on your web site, nor do you mention it even to say that you don't have it anymore. I have to go to CNET and download an older version? Really?
OK, so I download it--and I discover exactly why you discontinued it. Is that your idea of a 10 foot interface? Sure, I can get it integrated with WMC. But in the end, all I have is a remote control that controls an interface more horrendous than your web browser experience.
Maybe your Roku interface is better--but I didn't even get a chance to look at that. Your web browser experience was so horrible, and your stated restrictions on content on non-web-browser devices was so plain, I wasn't even going to bother. That sound you heard was the gun you're holding shooting the bullet into your foot.
Hulu, you might step out of your mom's basement and wander down the street in the sunshine to see how Netflix does things. If you're going to compete, at least do so competently. Otherwise you look nothing more than foolish. You most certainly don't get my money.
At this point, I would advise people to stick with their cableco-supplied boxes and on-demand and PPV setups, rather than try to do anything with Hulu. That's saying something. And even the cord-cutters should stick with Netflix and maybe Redbox/Amazon to fill in some holes. Amazon Prime's on-demand stuff isn't bad, especially since it comes with the Amazon Prime that we all are buying anyway. (Hulu, do you see a pattern here? I'll give you a hint: the word you're struggling for is "value".) Their non-Prime rentals do a superb job of being crack fillers, and of course there's Redbox--or even Netflix mail service for DVDs.
In fact, anyone is better off doing both of the Netflix services for the same $16/month that Netflix streaming plus Hulu would cost. Sorry, Hulu--it looks like your network and content owner masters have done with you the same thing that they do with everything they touch, which is to screw it up because they really have no idea how properly to monetize what they have. They so badly want it to be 1975 all over again, when they made hundreds of millions of dollars simply by existing, and they want to stick their heads in the sand with respect to acknowledging that it's actually 2014 already with tons of technology and market expectations to which they need to adapt. Their market audience has adapted, and the more your masters try to deny that, the farther they'll fall behind.
To reiterate, your failures are:
1) your content
2) your interface
3) your inability to compete and provide value in today's market
Please also be painfully aware, Hulu, that not once above did I even start into the ease with which people can get this stuff outside your copyright system. While that is outside the scope of my discussion, you must also realize that you would kill all but the most hardcore of piracy simply by making this stuff available in a reasonable and easy and inexpensive manner. You can bet Netflix's lawyers use this argument all the time when negotiating streaming rights, and they're correct--Netflix is easier than piracy for the majority of people. The content owners need to learn to be happy with a few cents here and there, instead of holding out for dollars while their content gets shoved around the internet anyway.