Hulu says it will kill off free tier, push free shows to partners like Yahoo

Customers will be notified of the change over the next several days, and encouraged to take a free trial of a paid subscription, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hulu has gradually worked to discourage free viewing, for instance making those videos harder to find on its website. Free material has never been playable on mobile devices or set-tops.

The Yahoo View partnership is extensive, to the extent that videos there use Hulu's player and even show ads sold by Hulu, though revenue is still being split. As before, viewers can watch archival content along with the last five episodes of current shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox, with an eight-day wait after first broadcast.

At the moment Hulu offers two paid tiers — one with "limited" commercials for $7.99 per month, and a "No Commercials" option costing $11.99. On top of mobile/set-top viewing, these enable next-day access to new episodes, and a much broader content library including Hulu exclusives.

In May the company confirmed plans to launch live TV streaming in 2017, which will presumably cost extra, though details are still unknown.