In what was an entirely predictable result of a stupid decision, the number of people illegally downloading Fox TV shows has increased over the past week. Rupert Murdoch and his out-of-date cronies really don’t get it, do they.

Fox’s Eight-Day Delay

Fox recently instituted an eight-day delay between a show airing on television and being available to view online on Fox.com or on Hulu. The idea was to ensure only those who pay for the privilege get to watch these shows the day after transmission.

In reality, thanks to Fox only signing up one distributor before launch, the vast majority of people are being made to wait more than a week to catch up on the Web. Which most people who are very into their favorite shows just aren’t going to be able to do. Cue the obvious result of this doomed plan.

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News Corp. used Hulu and Fox.com access to hurt Cablevision customers in its continuing fight over retransmission fees this weekend. Proving how important online video has become to even the biggest companies.

News Corp. Vs. Cablevision

News Corp. and Cablevision are currently locked in a battle over retransmission fees in the New York area.

Cablevision currently carries local stations owned by Fox and its owner News Corp. Proprietor one Rupert Murdoch Esq. But News Corp. is trying to up the retransmission fees paid by Cablevision, and that contract dispute has seeped over into the online video sector.

Caught in the middle is Hulu, which is co-owned by News Corp. as well as by ABC and NBC Universal.

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As expected ivi TV is being sued for its re-streaming online TV service. The range of broadcasters and networks involved in the lawsuit suggest this is a fight ivi TV is unlikely to win. And history backs this up as well.

Ivi TV

Ivi TV is a new service from Seattle-based Ivi that launched just a couple of weeks ago. And lawsuits are already flying around all over the place.

The ivi TV app, which can be downloaded here, allows anyone around the world to watch the big U.S. networks (and some smaller channels too) live over the Internet for just $4.99 per month (after the 30-day free trial period ends).

Ivi TV effectively hijacks the live feeds of these broadcasts from cable affiliates in Seattle and New York and rebroadcasts them across the Web directly to people computers.

Although it sounds illegal, and will probably end up being judged to be so, ivi claims it is merely taking advantage of a loophole in the law.

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The world is gearing up for the release of the Apple iPad tomorrow (April 3) and video is going to play a big part of the device, despite the lack of support for Adobe Flash.

Netflix has already announced its iPad app, with Hulu expected to do the same soon. And the networks are also getting in on the act, with ABC, NBC, and CBS offering shows up for streaming.

Video On iPad

Apple is confident that video will form a large part of what iPad users will gain from owning the device. Its decision not to support Flash was a controversial one, although hardly unexpected. But that doesn’t seem to be harming the iPad much, if at all.

In the ‘Videos‘ section of the guided tour of the iPad, Apple states:

“There’s nothing like watching video on iPad. The high-resolution display brings your favorite HD movies and TV shows to live like no device has before. When you hold it in your hands, it feels like your own personal big screen.”

Which is an unequivocal boast. But as well as iTunes and YouTube, other video sites and services are now coming on board the iPad Express.

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Hollywood is running scared of Web piracy, and is fighting tooth and nail to prevent its big releases being shared over the Internet. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not only shared online but it was leaked a month prior to release, but the FBI has now, finally, made an arrest.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The X-Men franchise is one of the biggest right now, with a new raft of spin-offs planned and all the movies doing fantastically well at the box-office, regardless of their quality.

The latest movie in the series, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, was due for a 20th Century Fox release in May. The film cost around $100 million to make and was on the movie studio’s big hopes for 2009.

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Hulu has got where it is today – a very popular and widely known online video service – by being free and full of great content. The question is, would the majority of people give up the free aspect in favor of more great content? Because that’s the reality Hulu users are facing in the future.

Hulu As It Is

Hulu has been built on the tenet of providing free premium content over the Internet using an advertising based model to first cover costs and secondly generate revenue. And it’s been a pretty successful strategy, allowing Hulu to build a sizable audience.

However, the company is still expected to make a loss of around $33 million this year, despite revenue of $164 million. So naturally the thoughts of those at or near the top of the companies who own and control Hulu have turned to whether a different approach would prove to be better.

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The last two years have seen online video reach the masses, and grow massively as a result. That trend has continued apace during the first half of 2008, with comScore revealing 12 billion videos were watched in the US during the month of May.

That 12 billion videos suggest a 45% increase on the same period last year, and shows a very healthy growth in online video. This is both from user-generated sites such as YouTube, and those providing streaming television, such as Hulu.

142 Million Uniques

Ars Technica reports that 142 million unique users watched video online in May, which counts for 74% of the total Internet users in the US, meaning 3 out of 4 people have watched some kind of video online.