Reportedly, Hulu is about to make good on its plans to begin charging for its online viewing service.
And, despite the fact that this was announced last year, there are cries of agony and vows to never, ever use Hulu again.
Because, apparently, there are people out there who are under the impression that they are somehow entitled to free entertainment — that the people who produce it are not entitled to be paid for their work.
Excuse me for not sounding sympathetic, but — boo, hoo!
Hulu — which is jointly owned by News Corp. (the parent company of Fox), NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Co. — includes hundreds of TV episodes and movies that you can watch for free at Hulu.com.
For television viewers, it has been a fantastic supplement to regular viewing. You can catch an episode you missed, catch up on a series you've fallen behind on or check out a show you've heard about from friends.
And, for the most part, that won't change. Even when Hulu starts their subscription service — which, according to the Los Angeles Times, will begin testing soon. Perhaps as soon as May 24.
According to the report, the five most recent episodes of each television series will remain free; if you want to see more than that, you'll have to pay a $9.95 monthly subscription fee.
Additionally, Hulu is reportedly planning to increase the number of commercials in its streaming. Which is also eliciting screams of protest.
Again — boo, hoo!
Did you think that television programs and movies are produced for free? Of course not. Hundreds of millions of dollars — ? billions of dollars — go into the production of the television show episodes on Hulu.
The notion that anyone is entitled to watch those shows for free is absurd.
Try showing up at the local cineplex and asking for a free seat to see the latest blockbuster. Try walking up to the box office and demanding free admission to a play, concert, comedy or dance performance.
Go to your local bookstore, walk out with the novel of your choice and see how far you get.
Ridiculous? Of course.
But so is the notion that you should have free access to all television episodes on the Internet.
Even "free" TV isn't free. It's paid for by the advertisers. They buy commercial time, with the understanding that the commercials will influence viewers to buy their products.
(Whether anyone is watching those commercials — particularly since the advent of DVRs — is a whole 'nother issue.)
If we have to watch more commercials in order to watch those five episodes of a series, so be it. It's not that big a deal.
And $9.95 a month is hardly a prohibitive fee for access to the entire Hulu library.
The bigger point is, however, that the people who write, direct, act, produce and put up the money to pay for it all are entitled to be paid for their work and investment.
And we're not just talking about highly paid stars. We're talking about the regular folks who work behind the scenes and take home regular salaries.
If you want to watch low-quality videos on YouTube — the only website with more video streams per month than Hulu — that's great. More power to you.
For the time being, at least, YouTube will remain free to anyone who wants to watch.
If you want to watch a professionally produced television series, you're going to have to pay for it one way or another.
If you go to a site that pirates episodes and streams them for free, you're a thief. Pure and simple.
If enough people steal episodes, that will be the end of professionally produced television series. You can't produce episodes for free.
Like they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Or free TV.
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com