Criterion Collection Chooses Hulu Plus Over Netflix

Posted by on February 15th, 2011   Filed under: Industry News, Internet
Source: Criterion

There’s a nasty war brewing in the entertainment industry right now, with several companies competing for dominance in what could very soon become the most important platform out there for movie distribution. Forget about Blockbuster vs. Netflix or even Redbox vs. Netflix… those battles have been all but decided, with Netflix essentially securing the upper hand. If anyone currently has the power to upset Netflix right now it would have to be Hulu, another online streaming service that started with a focus on television and is now making a strong push into movies as well. Hulu offers plenty of their content for free, but last year they launched a paid subscription service called Hulu Plus with access to a whole lot more. And now this week they have announced a big partnership with The Criterion Collection that will supposedly give them exclusive streaming rights to their entire catalogue by the end of the year. The bigwigs over at Netflix have got to be at least at little bit worried right about now.

As of today, over 150 Criterion titles have been added to Hulu Plus including The Seventh Seal, Grey Gardens, Breathless, M, Man Bites Dog, Seven Samurai, The 400 Blows, The Blob, George Washington and La Strada. By the end of the year, that number will grow to over 600. All will be presented without commercial interruptions, and some will be available as part of Hulu’s free service as well. They are even planning to make bonus material for these films available over time.

Although Netflix currently has a number of these Criterion titles available in their Watch Instantly library, the license expires in June and will not be renewed. Considering that Hulu Plus costs the same as Netflix ($7.99 a month), this is going to leave film buffs with a difficult decision. Do they leave Netflix or pay for both? I guess it all depends what you use Netflix for, but instant access to this many hard-to-find classics is certainly worth its weight in gold. Unfortunately for those of us outside of the U.S., Hulu is not an option, but for the rest of you, are you convinced? Do you see yourself subscribing to Hulu Plus in the near future?



  • Juan

    Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy will be there then… nice!

  • Hulu won’t win shit unless they expand beyond the U.S.

  • Ross F

    I tried Hulu Plus and it was horrible. There were STILL commercials for both TV and movies, which seems ridiculous for a paid package, and the quality of the video streams were lacking in my opinion. I’m sticking with Netflix.

  • The Criterion titles will have ads before you watch but not during the movie.

  • Ryan Marlow

    I’m calling it now: Hulu Plus is going to fold.

  • Chris

    I use hulu plus on my PS3 from Canada with usvudeo.ca. Works for US Netflix too, totally worth it!

  • Chris

    Oops that’s usvideo.ca

  • Matt

    If Hulu plus has ads during or before the movies/tv shows, it won’t last. I’ll stick with Netflix until Hulu offers something better.

  • Gil

    But I can still rent Criterion titles over the mail, right? I’m gonna stick with no ads ever.

  • this is what is going to happen – 5 to 6 major online services all with fees for the consumer! instead of giving us what we want which is 1 monthly membership and access to all content ever made, the different production arms are going to to be bid out to the highest bidder and service will come and go, bought and sold. why they can’t design a system to share the welth is beyond me.

  • Justice

    This sucks…I really don’t want to pay another 8 bucks for another service. However, with $20 I can cut out cable and save a bundle and then just dl anything I may miss otherwise. But I agree with Rus, this is going to be how it goes from here on out. I can imagine giant cable companies like Comcast jumping into this.

  • Nathan

    I would pay $25 to watch the equivalent of basic cable online. Wonder when someone will figure this out and take advantage. Seems like companies like HBO are just really slow to figure out that we don’t want to go through a cable box or satellite to see their content.

  • Pres Mony

    I love Netflix, it’s a massive repository of trash cinema that, for someone like me, is worth twice what I pay. Their stock price has nearly quadrupled in the last year, I think their war chest is sufficient to take on the likes of Hulu Plus, backed by the major networks (phooey on them).