Breaking news for TV-loving cord-cutters struck Tuesday afternoon with a surprisingly mild call for action. The long and short of it is this: Hulu is no longer going to allow you to watch FOX TV shows the day after they air on TV unless you can prove you’re a cable or Hulu Plus subscriber. Uh oh, FOX fans, that means you’re going to get a few e-doors slammed in your face next month! So where’s the Hulu/FOX-directed outrage?! Thieves! Scabs! Pansies! As far as I’m concerned, FOX practically built Hulu: back when it was just a wee Internet start-up, 
I was graduating college, broke, and still (for some reason) obsessed with Family Guy and the rest of the animation domination line-up. Hulu’s charitable offerings turned me into a consistent and loyal user. And I wasn’t the only one! Years later, more programming would evolve, many with delayed online air dates, others with specific restrictions of their own, but FOX programming remained consistent and reliable. Not anymore!
Here’s why nobody’s panicking:
The fact is, Hulu isn’t taking away FOX programming, they’re just putting it on an eight day delay. That means, if you don’t have a cable subscription, you still get to watch your FOX show, just eight days after it airs on TV. For shows like Bob’s Burgers or King of the Hill, that might not be so bad. But for those trying to follow the latest drama on Glee or in Hell’s Kitchen, it’s le suck, sorry. Guess you’ll have to get a cable subscription. Or, you could start throwing Hulu-only viewing parties with your other cable-less friends and collectively avoid spoilers all over the Internet, effectively becoming social-media shut-outs, which sort of defeats the point of living the online-only lifestyle, right? Your call. The fact is, this deal isn’t life or death for TV fans, it’s just an inconvenience.
Even so, all of these hidden agendas and inconsistencies across and within TV networks on Hulu begs the question: is FOX, the big network player that launched Hulu into the mainstream collective consciousness in the first place, now just another that threatens to kick it out? It’s yet to be seen, but the whole thing smells like sadness, to me. I understand that you gotta do what you gotta do to make money, but it’s clear the age of Hulu’s burgeoning idealism is coming to a quick end, and it’s taking the TV fan enthusiasm for online streaming down with it.
