The Problem with Online Content Delivery

As TV moves from the airwaves (hey, I still have rabbit ears!) to pay TV to internet delivery of content it seems there will be some gaps.  

This story about ABC's "Shark Tank" not being available on Hulu Plus is a great example.  From the fine article:

An ABC rep says the company doesn’t have the rights to distribute the show on subscription video services. It says it’s up to Sony, which produces the show, to cut a deal with Hulu. But a Sony rep says ABC does have those rights. 

The net result is the same: Hulu Plus customers who want to watch the show on the service have to find another way, because of murky licensing issues.

Since I only use a computer, it's easy enough for me to log out and log in again.  I guess if I had a TV with an Apple TV (which would be my preferred course) then I could mirror from my computer to the TV screen, but that sounds inane.  

Glad I cut the cord with cable.  I don't have an extra $100 to budget just so I can get overwhelmed with ads while watching TV.  I've always had a problem with paying for TV so I can watch programs that somebody else is paying for.  Theoretically, the ads were there to pay for the shows since they were broadcast "free" over the air (OTA.)  As the OTA model has died with cable and satellite (and now internet) and I am buying the shows, why should I get ads?  

It makes more sense for me to go with a show from the iTunes music store and avoid the ads altogether.  I can get it downloaded the morning after it broadcast (or sooner if I wished by setting it up to download automatically) and the content will be ad free.  At anywhere from $20-$30 per show, it's a no-brainer considering there are only a handful of shows I'm interested in.  Three to five shows this way costs the same as a month of cable.  

Truth be told, I could care less about Mark Cuban or his show.  Yeah, sounds neat I guess, but I'm not a big fan of the dude.  I'll save my money for Archer, The League and Venture Brothers.  

Actually, that last one reminds me of using Hulu Plus trying to find old episodes of Venture Brothers.  They have like 4 episodes on Hulu Plus.  And a ton of clips.  If I'm going to find out about a show, I don't want to see the last 4 episodes.  And clips are nice but they're better if you know the show.  

Hulu Plus doesn't seem to be giving me that much for my money.  I am considering looking into Amazon Prime for their video direct service.  Netflix is a joy.  Not great, but above average.  

This internet thing should shake out the players from the pretenders.  For all of its corporate backing, Hulu is looking like an also-ran.