Gadgets Blog » Movies

I have talked before of my affinity for both Netflix and Hulu, but the online rental and streaming monolith that is Netflix is trying to eclipse America’s television alternative.

For those of you unfamiliar with both, Netflix started as a company that sent DVDs via mail, but quickly cornered the market on streaming movies and seasons of television shows online. They have old movies, B-movies, independent movies and even newer movies that make it to streaming relatively quickly.

Hulu is best known for running episodes of television shows online soon after air, and retaining at least three to five of a series’ past episodes for people that missed a few shows. They have movies, as well, but many are older.

In the past, these services were kept pretty much apart, since they each had their own niche. This is no longer the case. Netflix reportedly is willing to pay $100,000 per episode for television shows for next-day streaming rights, and I doubt that television execs are going to turn down the offer.

Where I live there were once at least a dozen video stores nearby ranging from mom and pop to the big chains like Blockbuster and Family Video. Growing up, I remember my father and I heading out to the video store to rent the latest releases in both video games and movies.

Many of these stores are gone now and walls once covered floor to ceiling with movies are now bare. Only a few posters remain from movies long past their prime. Their sales tax and income streams gone from small towns already hit hard by unemployment and a sluggish economy. What killed these stores? Was it the economic downturn? Poor business management? It was the inevitable march of progress that is the Internet.

When Hulu first came about and I was able to watch The Simpsons and Family Guy without the little ones hearing, I thought that was cool, and there were even some movies that I never heard of that I could watch. When Netflix first started mailing DVDs that you could reserve online, I thought it was a fad and no one would want to wait 24 hours when the video store was down the block. When Redbox put stations outside of local supermarkets offering $1 new movies, I thought interesting concept, but not for me.

In the last few weeks, the online media business has become a focal point of the public eye. Last week, Hulu announced the launch of their subscription based service, Hulu Plus. Days later, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down a number of (illegal) free TV websites such as TVShack.net, PlanetMoviez.com, and Ninjavideo.net. According to The Los Angeles Times, more than 7 million people visited these websites per month.

Over the last five years with the increasing accessibility of broadband Internet, we’ve seen distinct shifts in the way that people watch TV. The days of channel surfing seem to be coming to an end for many consumers. Now, it’s all about pointing, clicking, and streaming.

Although laws, products, and business models are evolving with technology, it sometimes seems as though innovation isn’t happening quickly enough to meet consumer demands, as indicated by the 7 million people who visited illegal sites for streaming content.