Hulu asking users: Are you a cord cutter?

Over-the-top TV catch-up service Hulu is using some ad breaks to ask its users "How do you watch TV at home?" The inference, of course, is "Are you a cutting the cord?"

GigaOm reports that a Hulu spokesperson said the brief survey has a simpler goal in mind, tailoring ads to individual users. But, in the wake of the FCC's decision to allow one of Hulu's parents, NBC Universal, to be acquired by cable giant Comcast, it's no surprise that the survey is raising some new questions of its own.

The Hulu survey gives users the following options:

  • I stream what I want, when I want, over th Internet (Hulu, Netflix, etc.).
  • I'm a cable subscriber (Time Warner, Comcast, etc.).
  • I use a satellite provider (DIRECTV, DISH Network, etc.).
  • I'm a fiber optic subscriber (AT&T U-Verse, FiOS-TV, etc.).
  • Over the airwaves, using an antenna (or I don't watch much TV).

Those seem less like ad tailoring than a quick user survey that can be used to gauge the potential impact of the service on pay-TV operators. Stay tuned.

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