Spotify and Hulu announce combined subscription plan (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

source

I must admit, I already pay for Apple and Amazon music. I am kind of interested in Hulu, but not sure how extensive their programming is compared to say, Netflix.

I might consider this deal if there is enough positive feedback from HTF members

 

[Cranston37+]

That’s odd they wouldn’t have a similar bundle with Spotify and the Hulu Live TV package. I subscribe to that for $39.99 a month and I feel like their $11.99 a month customers are the ones getting the sweet deal...

 

[John Dirk]

Hulu is a joint venture by the major studios [and Comcast] and, as such, is focused primarily on prime time TV I think. I would say, if you've cut the cord [as I have] and still want contemporary TV shows soon after their original air dates then Hulu may be for you. I prefer older TV shows and so have had no sustained interest. I've played around with their free plan on the PC platform but never actually signed up for the pay plan.

 

[JohnRice]

I like Hulu. By default I have Amazon Prime, which I had before there were any streaming benefits. I also haven't had cable in about 15 years. I only first tried Hulu a couple months ago, expecting for it to be a nice, cheap way to see broadcast stuff when I wanted to, but I almost immediately realized how nice it is to have and switched to commercial free, which is more than worth the extra $5, it costs. It's just different than NetFlix, which I think tends to compete more with Prime for content. Once thing to remember about Hulu is that it is strictly Dolby Surround. There is NO discrete surround material at all, which I have a feeling you won't like.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We have the Hulu service with commercials - - it's free with our Sprint cellular plan. I've actually been watching it more than Prime lately. They have some older shows I have not seen in many years. I am currently going through the show "Wings".

 

[Robert Crawford]

We have the Hulu service with commercials - - it's free with our Sprint cellular plan. I've actually been watching it more than Prime lately. They have some older shows I have not seen in many years. I am currently going through the show "Wings".

Scott,

How many commercials per TV episode or movie? I have Spotify Premium so I might go with this combo offer.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I like Hulu. By default I have Amazon Prime, which I had before there were any streaming benefits. I also haven't had cable in about 15 years. I only first tried Hulu a couple months ago, expecting for it to be a nice, cheap way to see broadcast stuff when I wanted to, but I almost immediately realized how nice it is to have and switched to commercial free, which is more than worth the extra $5, it costs. It's just different than NetFlix, which I think tends to compete more with Prime for content. Once thing to remember about Hulu is that it is strictly Dolby Surround. There is NO discrete surround material at all, which I have a feeling you won't like.

John,

Is the programming or amount of streaming allowed different between no commercials and limited commercials plan? Currently, they're charging $11.99 per month for no commercials and $7.99 for limited commercials which is $4 not $5.

 

[Robert Crawford]

For $3 more I decided to try it as I already have Spotify Premium. I can always cancel if I don't like it. Now I have to set up multiple devices, later.

 

[JohnRice]

John,

Is the programming or amount of streaming allowed different between no commercials and limited commercials plan? Currently, they're charging $11.99 per month for no commercials and $7.99 for limited commercials which is $4 not $5.

They’re exactly the same. Just no commercials. When I signed up a couple months ago, the commercial plan was $6.99. I guess it went up.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Scott,

How many commercials per TV episode or movie? I have Spotify Premium so I might go with this combo offer.

Robert,

Commercials on TV shows are of random amount - - anywhere from none to five minutes for a 22 minute show. The app on my Roku players will actually tell you how long the episode will be with commercials. Exiting and reselecting the episode will usually reduce the commercial time. I can usually get commercial time to a minute for an episode. Unfortunately, the apps on my Android phone, iPad and Samsung TV do not show the time with commercials.

The movies I have watched have not had any commercials.

Our account is through Sprint, and we do not have the option to upgrade to the non-commercial plan. But it's free, so I live with the commercials.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched the pilot/first episode of "The Rifleman" First season for kicks "The Sharpshooter". The episode had Dennis Hopper, Leif Erickson, Sidney Blackmer and R.G. Armstrong and it was directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah. That same year, I think The Big Country came out with Chuck Connors in it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert,

Commercials on TV shows are of random amount - - anywhere from none to five minutes for a 22 minute show. The app on my Roku players will actually tell you how long the episode will be with commercials. Exiting and reselecting the episode will usually reduce the commercial time. I can usually get commercial time to a minute for an episode. Unfortunately, the apps on my Android phone, iPad and Samsung TV do not show the time with commercials.

Thanks for that work around as I used it on my AppleTV 4 unit and it worked like a charm reducing the commercial time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

What! A subscription service that lowered its pricing.

We’re contacting you today to let you know that we’re making some changes to the terms of your Spotify Premium with Hulu (ad-supported plan) subscription. These changes took effect March 12, 2019.

We recently lowered the price of Spotify Premium with Hulu from $12.99/month to $9.99/month.

At the end of your current billing cycle, we’ll automatically change your Premium with Hulu price to $9.99/month + applicable taxes. No action is required from you, and your existing Premium and Hulu (ad-supported plan) accounts will continue unchanged.

We’ve also made some updates to your subscription terms, which will apply automatically from the start of your next billing cycle. By continuing to use the Spotify service after that date, you agree to the new terms. Please review the new terms here.

We hope you continue to enjoy Spotify Premium with Hulu.

 

[Malcolm R]

I signed up for Hulu around Christmas with their "99 cents a month for a year" deal, and still think it's not worth it. The number of commercials seems to increase with each episode. That's one reason I gave up on Castle Rock. I watched three episodes, and each one had more commercials than the last. The show wasn't good enough to put up with the ads.

I also have freezing/buffering issues with Hulu that I don't have with Netflix or Prime.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I signed up for Hulu around Christmas with their "99 cents a month for a year" deal, and still think it's not worth it. The number of commercials seems to increase with each episode. That's one reason I gave up on Castle Rock. I watched three episodes, and each one had more commercials than the last. The show wasn't good enough to put up with the ads.

I also have freezing/buffering issues with Hulu that I don't have with Netflix or Prime.

I had weird playback issues with Hulu on our Roku devices, as well. It worked fine on our Apple TV 4K, though. We no longer subscribe to Hulu, either. We were getting it for free through our Sprint cell plan, but I switched to a less expensive plan that no longer included Hulu. I decided it wasn't worth $6 per month for us to continue the ad-supported plan.

 

[Cranston37+]

Disney currently owns 30% of Hulu. They will gain Fox's 30% once that deal closes. Now they are actively trying to buy Warner's 10% stake. It will be interesting to see what the future of Hulu is...

 

[TonyD]

I signed up for the 99¢ a month plan too.
But I love the service.

Just about all the recent eps of tv shows are there.
Many older shows including every ep of my favorite show St Elswhere.

We also watch General Hospital and recording that every day was taking up a ton of space on the dvr.

We usuaauly watch on our Roku Tv and noticed that the longer we watch the less commercials we see.
They usually are anywhere from 15 secs to 90.
The problem we have with the ads are that during an hour episode you will likely see the exact same ads on each break.

The other issue I haven’t resolved is sometimes you can’t rewind back to before a break.
Even if you watched it already it won’t go backwards past it and it will replay the same break.

As long as they have St Elsewhere I will keep my sub current on Hulu.

 

[John*Wells]

Disney currently owns 30% of Hulu. They will gain Fox's 30% once that deal closes. Now they are actively trying to buy Warner's 10% stake. It will be interesting to see what the future of Hulu is...

As streaming Services go, I thought Hulu may go away but if Disney has Controlling interest, They may keep it going

 

[David Deeb]

This offer is intriguing to me for the movies. But, I don't watch content with commercials anymore, and I really am not interested in current TV series. Which leaves primarily just the movies.

My questions to any HTF members/subscribers are: do Hulu movies show commercials? (Ugh, skip it)

And how is their movie selection? Many independent films, documentaries, cult, foreign films, classic films or at least more than just Hollywood "hits"? Everything in HD or 4k?

Hard to tell the movie selection without signing up, but appears to be primarily lots of Hollywood hits from the 2000 - now.

 

[BarryF]

You have to pay extra for no commercials. Movie selection is just so-so. HD at best.