Luke Hubbard

I was chatting with a friend over at Turner Broadcasting and he informed me that cable providers are pretty angry that many television clips are available for free online. Cable providers think that the networks are unsupportive and it’s causing some pretty harsh friction.

Therefore, the TV networks, cable providers, and online video sources may all come to an agreement to require users to login before being able to access any videos that are normally also available via cable television. The user would have to be a paid cable customer to get a valid login. Obviously, the details haven’t been worked out at all and there are a lot of conflicting opinions on the topic.

I disagree with the requirement for logins. And just for the heck of it, here’s a pretty funny clip from the free online video service call Hulu.

Flixster is a social network geared around movies. Their tag line is “Watch movies. Tell friends.” This pretty much sums up the basis of Flixster.

On Flixster, you can rate movies, create your own reviews, take quizzes, and compare your movie tastes with your friends. Another cool feature is the ability to watch movies right in the interface via Flixster’s partnership with Hulu.

Flixster appears to be monetizing mainly through their display advertisements. I can’t help but wonder if they’re profitable this way, or if they’re struggling to make a profit like the other social networking giants Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube.