Hulu & Netflix to Replace Cable?

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Details: Created on Sunday, April 18, 2010 10:50 PM PDT; Written by King Mika

"The average digital cable customer already pays almost $75 a month, according to research firm Centris. And many subscribers pay more than $100 to tune in to everything from "The Daily Show" to "Jersey Shore."

"Customers see an average annual price hike of 5%, analysts say -- which means that in five years they'll be shelling out more than $95 a month for TV," CNN.com reported.

With cable companies charging a crazy amount of money for cable, most users are always looking for alternatives. Hulu is the best alternative because it's free, and features the latest episodes for most shows. Where Hulu can't top cable is the fact that there's no HD option, but at least its commercials are short.

Image credit: Hulu

Another alternative is Netflix that boasts over 17,000 movies and TV episodes.

“With Netflix offering free streaming to any subscription plan that is $8.99/month or greater, we believe [it] could easily begin to eat into the estimated $66 billion [cable] market for basic and premium home subscriptions,” analyst Eric Wold said.

No doubt! Fox recently listed the following series (as in every episode available on DVD) on Netflix: "24," "Angel," "Arrested Development," "Bones," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Dollhouse," "Firefly," "King of the Hill," "Lie to Me," "Prison Break," "Roswell," and "The X-Files."

Why watch scheduled episodes of The X-Files on cable TV, when you can instead watch any episode at anytime wherever you are on Netflix?!

Netflix features some HD streaming content, but you'll find more 480p streams than HD streams... but on the plus side, Netflix has no commercials.

"The analyst, like others, believes Netflix’s access to enhanced studio content for streaming will retain subscribers seeking alternative DVD rental options due to the inherited 28-day window for new release movies," HomeMediaMagazine.com reported.

I actually don't mind waiting 28-days later to watch new releases -- as long as Netflix continues to add movies to its Watch Instantly service on a regular basis. If I really liked a movie that I watched in the theater I end up purchasing the movie to begin with... for other movies that I want to see, but don't want to purcahse, what's a 28-day wait?

Overall: If you're an HD user -- you have no choice but to keep your cable... but that's going to change in the future!

Image credit Netflix