Well, the rumors were true. NBC/Universal just couldn’t stand watching those imaginary dollars slide on by, so they plan on charging for a service that has been free since it’s inception. It is sure to be a move that will annoy many, and probably nudge them to start looking for alternatives (legal or not). The deal:

“It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” he said. Carey said that while everyone cites the infamous Jeff Zucker quip that “We’re exchanging analogue dollars for digital dimes,” the industry continues to do exactly that. The strategy needs to be more than just fighting piracy and Google, he says.“I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” Carey said. “Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

AdVerse had a quick chat with Carey too and posed the question, when exactly does Hulu start charging then? Carey, who says he’s only been to one Hulu board meeting since arriving at News Corp., suggests there is still no timeline but supposes it’s at least in 2010. Carey says that while throwing up a pay-wall around all content is not the answer, it doesn’t mean there wont be fees for some specially-created content and TV previews. Windows are just around the corner. American Idol audition previews anyone? Mobile Hulu is another potential way of making money.

Aren’t the ads supposed to be there for this reason? I’d wager that with Hulu around people are appreciating the value of the content by not pirating it.

Still, a subscription model does seem inevitable as more content shifts towards being showcased online. We’ll be waiting for pricing and structure announcements next year. Read the full article at B&C: Chase Carey: Hulu to Charge in 2010.

Speaking last night at an Internet Week event sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Miller, News Corp.’s newly-installed chief digital officer, said he envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and Disney, are available only to subscribers.

Miller, whose last job was running AOL (parent of Daily Finance), prefaced his remark by noting that he won’t attend his first Hulu board meeting until Monday, so the scenario he foresees is merely his own speculation. But, he continued, “in my opinion the answer could be yes. I don’t see why over time that shouldn’t happen. I don’t think it’s on the agenda for Monday [but] it seems to me that over time that could be a logical thing.”

Sounds reasonable, given the stake that the parent companies have in Hulu. In the mean time, just keep watching. Thanks DailyFinance.

Some of the international content Hulu has added includes: Digital Rights Group’s GreenWing, Peep Show,Doc Martin and Kingdom; Endemol’s Fear Factor UK, I Want to be a Hilton and Chains of Love; Bollywood films from Saavn, including Sarkar, Deewana and Hera Pheri; and U.S.-based anime producer FUNimation’s Mushi-shi, Shikabane Hime and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Thanks to Multichannel.

Disney, which made the deal through subsidiary ABC Enterprises Inc., joins News Corp., NBC Universal and Providence Equity Partners as an equity partner in the fast-growing TV and movie-streaming site. Terms of the deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, were not announced. Disney will have near parity with News Corp. and NBC, according to an industry source. Other sites have reported it would take a stake between 27% and 30%, which the source said is within the realm of possibility. 

Once the deal closes, Hulu will begin streaming current ABC hits Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and other current shows the day after they air on TV, mirroring Disney’s streaming strategy on ABC.com and other Disney sites. Disney also offers streams of its shows through distribution partners AOL, Fancast and Xbox Live, which it will continue to do. Hulu, along with Disney and its partners, will get an exclusive window for Disney content. 

In addition to ABC primetime shows, Disney will also offer other current and library shows from ABC Daytime, ABC Family, the Disney Channel as well as “popular titles” from Walt Disney Studios to the site. The company hasn’t yet said what movies will be added.

One nice thing about this move is that there are now 3 out of the 4 major broadcasters that have joined Hulu. Right now VOD is extremely confusing to those who are not really paying much attention, so when the time comes for them to consider a service/company to go with they might not have a clue. Story courtesy of VidBiz.

Piracy of digital content has become something of a big business in its own right. Recently, an incomplete version of the upcoming summer movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked out, perhaps one of the earliest leaks of a major Hollywood movie to date. Perhaps more interesting, a reviewer for Fox News got into hot water when he reviewed the unfinished movie–ironically, a movie by another News Corp. affiliate, 20th Century Fox.

Meanwhile, the much-ballyhooed trial of the bad, bad boys who run The Pirate Bay tracking site were found guilty. The comments from The Pirate Bay organizers in response to the verdict reads much like something right out of one of Warren Ellis’s Transmetropolitan graphic novels.

Then there’s the ongoing battle between Hulu and just about any non-browser device or software maker who wants to embed content streamed from Hulu into their device, particularly Boxee.

Finally, Stardock Software has become a victim of software piracy, something the company has tried to avoid by eliminating content protection from their games, which removes one of the major annoyances of PC games. Stardock published Gas Powered Games Demigod, but the game was released a day early by one retailer. Shortly afterwards, Stardock’s servers were hammered by multiplayer game play requests–most of them from illegal copies of the game. A patch or two later, and the pirates can no longer annoy actual owners of Demigod. Still, it’s something of a lesson learned for the Michigan software company, who is trying in all sincerity to develop content protection that serves the needs of game developers without annoying users.

What does all this mean? It means that how we look at content (no pun intended) is evolving at a rate so rapid, the legal system and purveyors of content simply can’t keep up. Trying to find successful business models for writing and disseminating news has become one of the major challenges of the 21st century. While citizen journalism is well and good, it costs serious time and money to do good investigative journalism. Who will pay for that if all news is aggregated coverage by bloggers?

Entertainment media, like music, movies, games, and television are trying to adopt the Web, but are mired in old business models that are both location based and hard goods based.

I can only agree that I don’t know the future, but I’ll be watching just like you.

ZillionTV, which expects to launch its service in the fourth quarter, plans to offer more than 15,000 movies and TV shows free to consumers.

The startup’s investors include Disney-ABC Domestic Television, 20th Century Fox Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros., which are licensing content to the venture.

ZillionTV users will have the option of watching targeted and addressable ad-supported content for free, or rent or purchase the videos, depending on the options offered by each content owner tied to each specific program.

Expect ZillionTV to face some fierce competition for the eye of the viewer. It has the potential to be larger than Hulu due to all of the studios behind it, but Hulu is pretty well established right now. Story courtesy of Multichannel.

Hulu is in the process of developing an app for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPod touch, we have learned from a plugged-in industry executive. The app is coming soon (within a few months) and is “badass” — as excellent as Hulu’s Web site. Video will work over both wi-fi and 3G, we’re told.

It won’t be the first Web video app for the iPhone — CBS’s TV.com app is on the market, as are Joost, i.TV and several others — but it could be the best. Hulu’s tech and design teams have demonstrated themselves as the best in the Web video industry, as everyone is now trying to emulate them. One hurdle, we assume: Because of Hulu’s streaming architecture, it might not be possible to download videos to watch later, such as on the subway or an airplane.

Apple will still need to approve the app before it is offered officially. On one hand, allowing the app would sell more iPhones but on the other it directly competes with iTunes. It will be interesting to see how Apple plays that one out. Tip of the hat to Silicon Alley Insider.