Newly installed News Corp. president, Chase Carey, hinted strongly at an industry event Thursday that Hulu will try to put the free genie back in the bottle by introducing subscription fees. The blog- and Twitter-spheres get the vapors over the reports. Even some (more or less) mainstream outlets saw dark forces at work. Not everyone’s having a cow over the news, though. Dave Zazt of Zazt Not Funny thinks a pay service could cure Hulu’s “random-crap syndrome.” Another theory: Putting up a pay wall around Hulu has more to do with Fox’s upcoming retransmission-consent negotiations with cable operators than with free web content.
Connected Consumer Links for this Week
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Perhaps engineers should stop trying to build intelligence into the TV set itself and simply make sure it can integrate with smart networks.
Submitted by Paul Sweeting
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Cringely sees Siri as a case of bait-and-switch that will enable Apple finally to disintermediate the networks, cable providers and ISPs.
Submitted by Paul Sweeting
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For home entertainment releases, a rare bright spot

Consumer spending on home entertainment ticked up in the third quarter, thanks mostly to solid Blu-ray sales.
Submitted by Paul Sweeting
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Cable TV holding web video at bay, earnings show

Analysts on cord-cutting: It's the economy, stupid.
Submitted by Paul Sweeting
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Zeebox social TV app is now live

Anthony Rose, the man who created the BBC's hugely popular iPlayer platform, is back with a new social TV play. Watch the demo.
Submitted by Paul Sweeting
