Hulu is updating its Terms of Service to disallow password
sharing among friends, family, and freeloaders. The streaming service is
sending out emails to notify users of the new policy, which will go into effect
on March 14th. This means that you can only stream on Hulu if you
have signed up for its service.
More precisely, Hulu is banning its users from sharing their subscriptions outside of their “household.” The term household, according to Hulu, implies “the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein.”
Hulu also adds that it will keep its users accounts in check
to ensure compliance with the new agreement, and if it finds any violation, then
the user’s access to the service could be limited or even terminated. However,
the company does not specify how it will be measuring compliance.
The news doesn’t really come off as a surprise, looking at
how Netflix implemented the same rule against password sharing and reported that
its sign ups increased considerably ever since then. Moreover, Disney plans to
own Hulu completely soon, and the company’s CEO Bob Iger also showed interest
in employing a password sharing crackdown.
