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Hulu CEO makes a lovely meal out of the hand that feeds him

Jason Kilar, who has run Hulu from the beginning, posted a blog entry that is critical of broadcast TV. You know, that institution that provides the content that Hulu uses in order to exist. Kilar said that traditional TV has way too many ads and that consumers want to watch TV at their own scheduling. The lengthy post is highly critical of the traditional model and makes the case that the Hulu ad-supported model works much better for everyone involved: consumer, advertiser, and content maker.

But the post comes at a time when Disney/ABC is frustrated with Hulu and considering dropping out entirely. Anonymous sources are furious with Kilar, according to the Financial Times:

"If I were given billions of dollars worth of programming, I too could probably build a business," the source told the FT. "But I know that in order to build a long-term, viable business I would have to do so in a way that works for everybody." Another source told the FT that they thought Kilar was out of touch with how mainstream viewers watch TV and called Kilar an "elitist."

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Tracie's picture
Tracie - Feb 4, 2011

While I certainly don't want to sound elitist myself, it seems Kilar is pretty well in touch with how most of the very busy people I know watch TV.

I suspect that the viewers that Disney/ABC labels as "mainstream", are actually folks who record their favorite shows on their DVR, then watch them on their own schedule-while SKIPPING the commercial breaks.