DISQUS

Pete · 10 months ago

This is obvious -

My TV is only fed by Boxee. Because Hulu isn't there, I will now watch none of Hulu's content provider's content. And none of their commercials.

Loosers:
Content Providers
Hulu
Boxee
Me

Winners:
Nobody

Where is the good decision, here?

avneron · 10 months ago

i agree. it does not make sense.

noaml · 10 months ago

I attempted to post this on the Hulu blog, but I doubt it will be approved:

I'm a huge fan of both Hulu and Boxee. Obviously content is king here and as a consumer I will follow my favorite content, but I must say this is just sad and I'm left angered. This only inspires me to pirate the content so that I can watch it from the convenience of Boxee. I, and many people with me, will begin to do that. Furthermore, the pirated versions of the Hulu content have been stripped of their advertising. While I was very happy to watch Hulu through Boxee and sit through the commercials, it's sad that the content holder's ignorance is now going to encourage people to move towards the pirated versions of this content.

Furthermore, this simply makes no sense. The type of viewer that is sophisticated enough to install Boxee on their MacMini or their AppleTV is certainly sophisticated enough to connect their laptop to their flat screen TV and watch Hulu. My MacMini is connected to my television and basically all your winning here is now I'm forced to quit Boxee occasionally and control my MacMini with a wireless mouse and keyboard to bring up Hulu. You win nothing and all you do is anger one of your fans and customers.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to be very eloquent in this comment or to really drive this home, but as an entrepreneur in the digital media space this is just sad sad sad. Bad business. Terrible understanding of your customers and technology. And just plain stupid.

avneron · 10 months ago

i hope they read your post.

in general i think that going against users and technology is never a winning strategy. short or long term.

avneron · 10 months ago

i hope they read your comment.

i think that going against users and technology is never a winning strategy. short or long term. it always backfires.

noaml · 10 months ago

Avner,

How's this for a compromise? Leave the Hulu icon in the next version of Boxee (free advertising, goodwill, bla bla bla). When users click the Hulu button, shutdown Boxee, automatically open up a browser, and bring up Hulu. I'll write an extension that allows me to navigate Hulu with my remote through the browser. Then when I'm done with my one show on Hulu, I hit menu on my remote and Boxee comes back up. Just to show them how ridiculously silly they are.

Justin · 10 months ago

I completely agree. Anyone know a good torrent? :\

al74 · 10 months ago

Nah. Boxee is too good to give-up. I'll probably watch less Hulu though because I'll have to go back to keyboard to fire-up the browser.

Facebook User · 10 months ago

This is a dumb move. I have no idea what these companies are thinking. This is a horrible time (economically speaking) to be turning away tens of thousands of advertisement watching 'paying customers'. People will get the same content in other ways - via torrent or DVR, both of which exclude commercials. I hope that they are prepared to reconsider or deal with the consequences.

avneron · 10 months ago

i really hope they will read these comments. more truth here that any slide/pitch i'll prepare for the meetings with Hulu and its content partners

xmascarol7 · 10 months ago

avner - amen. I'm a consultant and therefore powerpoint is my life. let me know if you need any help preparing/presenting

Michael · 10 months ago

If their content partners want a war, they should seriously look at the music industry. If people want their content, they'll get it. If they want it in another format or outlet, they'll get it. If you don't give it to them in a way you can make money, they'll take it. You don't want us to watch your ads on Hulu, no problem. We won't watch your ads. We will however still take the content. Don't doubt that for a second.

fg · 10 months ago

I just lost a lot of interest in boxee.

Trout Soup · 10 months ago

i lost a lot of interest in hulu

Andy · 10 months ago

Hulu is just ONE thing that makes Boxee cool. I'm not going anywhere and you guys still rock....but...

This move by Hulu is stupid as hell.

So let me get this straight, I can watch the same content, with the same ads in a browser on top of Boxee, but I can't watch it in Boxee? Freaking idiotic as usual from media companies. Impressive short-sightedness.

I thought Alec Baldwin's evil overlords wanted us to watch as much as we could.

Mark Guadalupe · 10 months ago

@boxee I wish there could be some ways to resolve this issues with Hulu and its content providers!

I think we need to create a petition or causes' group for those content providers to realise and open their eyes -=WIDE=- ☺

mark

Rodalpho · 10 months ago

Oh no, I can't watch TV on boxee anymore! What shall I do?!

Wait just a second...

Boxee still works with advertising-free full HD episodes downloaded from bittorrent, right?

Thought so.

queonda · 10 months ago

True but they are attacking at the bittorrent front also: http://dailybruin.com/news/2009/jan/13/riaa-opt...

phrakture · 10 months ago

I love it. Content providers are scared of not making money, so they make it difficult for people to consume their product and make it easier for people to steal it.

When will they learn?

Robert MacEwan · 10 months ago

It's almost as if they don't want us watching their shit so they can file bankruptcy. Does anyone have a list of the content providers? We need to start boycotting their asses and twitter, facebook and blog talking shit about how much their shows suck.

Shut downs work both ways you little pencil dick execs. You're lucky we even watch your crap to begin with. When the hell will you begin to realize that it is you the content providers that need us and not the other way around.

We really need to find out which studios were bitching.

popthis · 10 months ago

They're following the music industry's model of control, control, control ... oops.

Der Jester · 10 months ago

I can see the content providers thinking that boxee is somehow bypassing their revenue stream, but I think that comes down to lack of understanding of the technology. I know Hulu has been a huge proponent of making TV shows available to people pain free. It seems like boxee would be a no brainer for delivering content. Hopefully they can sort it out with their providers.

Mike Splain · 10 months ago

time to return my apple tv....

secretsushi · 10 months ago

Amen

00j9 · 10 months ago

me too -- Hulu on Boxee was what convinced me that appletv was actually useful. Boxee mainly. But I use hulu more than any of the other channels :-(

Mike · 10 months ago

Yeah, me too. What a pain in the arse! I have to figure something else out now. Damn!

Royce Hsu · 10 months ago

i guess content providers dont want people enjoying their content. this really blows. guess i can sell my appletv.

danb · 10 months ago

This is completely lame... run more adds for boxee clients if they must... but throwing away well over 5 million views a year? It's only going to get bigger....

Facebook User · 10 months ago

I left them this comment:

A note for your content providers: I have really enjoyed using Hulu via Boxee. Being able to access Hulu via my big screen TV instead of via my computer screen made all the difference in terms of deciding whether Hulu was a viable alternative to piracy. It was, and I had stopped acquiring content via alternative means entirely, in favour of the ease of use and big-screen experience of Hulu on Boxee, specifically. It's a shame that content providers can't see that, and are seemingly unwilling to play nice in the new media ecology, to the detriment (and chagrin) of their customers: the viewers. As for me, I'll be paying attention to see if the situation gets resolved, but in the meantime: it's back to the torrents.

Like Rodalpho says, torrenting is slightly more difficult than Hulu on Boxee, so I was doing Hulu on Boxee and living with the ads. but it's not *that* much more difficult.

avneron · 10 months ago

i hope the content owners will realize boxee is their friend. we make it easy for people to access ad-supported TV Shows or use a subscription service like Netflix.

the reality is that if the content owners will not make it easy for users to get their content legally, then people will find other ways.

O.C. · 10 months ago

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hulu is the only thing that I use in Boxee. No Hulu in Boxee means no more Hulu for me.



I use Boxee on my AppleTV and I will NOT be watching Hulu in the computer. That is nuts!

Shay · 10 months ago

BALLS.


Back to bittorrent.

rworkman · 10 months ago

Someone please explain to me why the networks don't want me to watch their ads? Seriously, I like your shows and am willing to watch the ads.

jwadlington · 10 months ago

As a Boxee user, I must say that this is a devastatingly disappointing announcement. I completely understand that Hulu's hands are tied, but nevertheless (as was mentioned), the real loser here is the evolution of how people (legally) watch content.

To me, moving users away from an illegal download model should be the first and foremost goal of content providers, followed closely by increasing the amount of people who view the material. In the end, what matters to the content providers is that people are watching the advertisements that are in the material that people are consuming. I am not making a value judgment here. Content providers are businesses that's main goal is to make money. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Most of the things we enjoy today have evolved and been driven through market forces.

So what is the effect of Hulu asking Boxee to drop support? It's simple: I will continue to watch what I watch, but I will go back to watching the majority of my content through my DVR.

This has three effects:

1) I will use Hulu less.
2) I will use Boxee less.
3) I will see fewer advertisements (due to the fast forward function of my DVR)

This seems as close to a lose-lose-lose situation to me as is possible.

I would love to say that I will continue to watch material through Hulu. I feel it is important to still support this model of watching content. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that Boxee was the reason I started to watch Hulu in the first place. I became an avid fan of FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" because of Boxee/Hulu. I have subsequently bought the DVDs of the first three seasons. Without Hulu/Boxee, I would have never watched this show.

The fact that content providers have asked Hulu to ask Boxee to drop support is disappointing, but not surprising. Content providers have a history of being remarkably shortsighted. While this announcement is a small setback for Hulu, a medium setback for content providers, and a large setback for Boxee, the attempt that Boxee made to bring content to us in this method is greatly appreciated by this user. I will do my best to support Boxee in whatever way I possibly can. I am hopeful and have confidence that Hulu isn't as shortsighted as the content providers and will work as hard as Boxee will in bringing back this service to Boxee users.

Boxee users: this is a setback, but it is not the end.

Donnie Clapp · 10 months ago

I know others have already said this, but I just want to reiterate that Hulu on Boxee was the only reason I had stopped downloading shows via bitTorrent. Now, I will recommence that activity. I much preferred commercials+clear conscience to commercial-free+I am a pirate. However, I'll definitely pirate before I stop watching.

avneron · 10 months ago

will quote your comment when i meet with Hulu's content partners..

Jake Bailey · 10 months ago

What?????
NOO!
Ugh, why does this stuff happen?

Doug Jenner · 10 months ago

Yes, but it aint no good to me - I'm outside the US. What a great pity!

Michael P. · 10 months ago

I was going to ask if your shift button was broken, but I see some capital H's in there!

Hulu was by far, the main reason I was interested in Boxee, and it sucks to see them go. I hope this gets resolved in some manner.

Michael P. · 10 months ago

Oh, apparently capital letters are not allowed on this site. Did they stop being hip or something?

Bryan Barnes · 10 months ago

The management at HULU are idiots for not letting the content into boxee. Just plain dumb, totally going against their (in my humble opinion) stupid ad from the superbowl. It was one of the worst.

Hope you get it worked out Boxee! Hulu seems to be always enticing us then taking away.

microbreak · 10 months ago

Sorry... the team at Hulu didn't make this decision... their content providers did.

However, you could make the argument that Hulu management is idiotic because they could not convince their content providers that Boxee is one of the best things for exposing great content to early adopters.

thedude · 10 months ago

Hacked in 3...2....1....

Aaron · 10 months ago

Wow, this is really bad news. Hulu was the best part about Boxee. I'm pulling for you guys to get this worked out.

Steven Hubert · 10 months ago

sad times.. Hulu is great. And Boxee did a great service showing the content with the advertisers.. Good luck guys~

Drew Baumann · 10 months ago

Wow... this is disappointing news.... especially after one of my good friends said he would rather use that new hulu plugin for frontrow than Boxee. It is a bummer that I cannot advertise hulu as one of Boxee's features anymore. I think Hulu knows it will be loosing many users because of this and hopefully its content providers will also realize their loss. I hope this situation is taken care of soon.

RHammons · 10 months ago

Back to Plex on Friday then, bummer....

erier2003 · 10 months ago

This is truly unfortunate. I am glad that the Boxee team is handling this responsibly and I think that their strategy for eventually reinstating a partnership with Hulu is a good one. Boxee has so many other plug-ins, but the Hulu integration sealed the deal for many of us. I'll continue to use Boxee, and I await the day when Hulu returns.

I'm very worried that the content on Hulu will start disappearing in droves, and that the site itself will lose its well-deserved reputation as one of the best places to watch TV shows online for free.

jonny · 10 months ago

keep fighting the good fight. I know you're looking out for us.

Dean Simmer · 10 months ago

Thank you for the heads up. I will be waiting patiently for Hulu to be back available in Boxee ASAP.

Bill Childers · 10 months ago

I just commented on the hulu blog and let them know of my disappointment in this turn of events. Watching boxee on hulu nearly made me a hero in the eyes of my wife and kids. Now, I'm just a hapless nerd again.

- Bill

wavesoftech · 10 months ago

Hulu is the number one reason boxee is so great! If we can assist in rallying, let us know.

Jake Marsh · 10 months ago

I give it about a week before there's a (non-official) working hulu plugin for boxee - why can't these board room guys learn? What are they afraid of?

m750 · 10 months ago

I commented on their blog. I'm so frustrated with DRM, and the 'Industry' try to prevent honest people from legally accessing their content. They are forcing people down the pirate road by preventing legitate access.
Screw em. They don't want to play nice, I'm sure it's easy enough to find torrents for all the shows I used to watch on hulu.

Rodalpho · 10 months ago

Of course, torrents are trivial to find. It's just a little bit more work to do it that way, that's why I used Hulu. I didn't mind watching their ads in exchange, it seemed fair. Of course now that option is no longer available, so...

Andrew · 10 months ago

This is bad news for Boxee as Understudy is adding Hulu and Netflix support to Frontrow. I assume the same should happen to them shortly.

Either way, things were just getting good. Boxee was finally getting to a point where you could damn near cancel your cable/satellite and set up a Mac Mini with Boxee and have just about anything you want. Then again, maybe that's exactly the issue. I hate to say it, but I'd rather have more commercials on Hulu streams and still be able to get them than not have it at all.

I certainly hope you guys can get something figured out. Hulu is going to be a huge loss for Boxee if they won't let them use it. This sucks!

Kurt O · 10 months ago

I don't get it. Are the content providers worried about being twice removed from the delivery mechanism? Let NBC know that I was about to get caught up and start watching Friday Night Lights via Hulu/Boxee. I guess those plans are on hold.

Joseph Engo · 10 months ago

Wow, this totally sucks ... Hulu needs to wake up and realize this was a damn good thing and they are shooting them selves in the foot.

Fine, thats how they want it ... thats how the get it. I won't go to Hulu from now on.

whitelabelspace · 10 months ago

Sorry to here that. A lot of people i know will be very upset.
This is really going to be the year of the mega content owner.
Everything will get centralised & controlled until there is enough of a common revolt to get sanity back in the equation again.

MadatHulu · 10 months ago

Nooooooooo!!!!! How are they going to fight illegal activities if they do this kind of crap.

geektonic · 10 months ago

Damn Hulu! They are blaming it on the evil "content providers" when THEY are owned by the content providers. I'm saddened to see the TV industry hasn't evolved as far as I thought they had.

Sad, sad news indeed!

Jerry · 10 months ago

While we never got access to Hulu here in Germany in the first place, I think this is a really bad step. The old media is amazingly efficient at being stubborn and ignorant, you've got to hand it to them.

Interestingly, you (boxee) may have provoked this yourself. I guess that when you publicly start trumpeting the fact that Boxee is good enough to make your users cancel their cable subscriptions and whatnot, the affected parties and the partners they're in bed with will start to fight back. It's basically like biting the hand that feeds. Hulu is less of a danger to them because, unlike Boxee, it doesn't invade the living room, which is still old media domain.

Anyway, I wish you guys the best of luck. I am a huge Boxee fan and use and recommend it all the time. Let us know if we do anything to help with this.

Chad · 10 months ago

Apple needs to strike a deal NOW! Just got boxee last week and feel in love with Hulu. Now it's going away. too soon.

Pat · 10 months ago

Well it was either Hulu or tvrss.net. Guess we know which one everyone will be using now.

BG · 10 months ago

Avner, there is no common sense when it comes to this stuff. We can't get Hulu here in Canada so I use BitTorrent to get my TV episodes without a shred of guilt. Give me an alternative other than paying through the nose for already free TV, then I'll use it.

Tom · 10 months ago

I really hope they reconsider. We still get the Hulu advertisements, so I don't see the problem. No different than if I was using my computer, so I don't get it. =-/

Apparently the content providers still have a lot to learn from the mistakes of the music labels, and that if they cut off distribution networks/mechanisms like Boxee, people will just turn to commercial-free torrent downloads, and they will get nothing.

I use Boxee on my Apple TV so I don't have to sit at my computer to watch content from Hulu. Geez, I rewired my network to improve my streaming just for HULU! As great as I think Hulu is, I will probably not use it frequently after it is removed from Boxee. It's a shame network executives can't get by with only 2 BMWs in their garages. =(

arrn · 10 months ago

Boxee, do this one thing for me as one of your alpha lovers: Make a way to "manually" add a provider...back...to boxee. Thanks.

Andy Sternberg · 10 months ago

I don't understand this move at all. Don't Hulu views via boxee generate the same revenues as a hulu embed would on any site or via Hulu.com ?

why?

LD · 10 months ago

I just don't understand why it makes any bit of difference if I watch in Boxee, Safari, Firefox, IE, or a computer attached to a big screen or small screen. So long as there is no circumvention of the ads (there isn't) then why does it make any difference whatsoever? Short sighted, white top, ignorant people running these companies.

Mark Bean · 10 months ago

Can we go back to calling them ClownCo now?

super_dude · 10 months ago

isnt this like sudden death for boxee??

wilsons · 10 months ago

This is bad news!
You know what Hulu is doing.....
They see the future that Boxee has and they want a piece of it!

Reginald Freeman · 10 months ago

I think what's really needed here is a fight to reach some kind of formal agreement with hulu so that the content providers can sleep at night. Losing hulu totally alters my boxee experience and with the current lack of abc content as well I can't see much of a reason to ever start the program again. I love boxee and use it almost every day but this decision could really change that. I would really love to see some type of resolution reached before it's too late and other users like myself revert to their former habits.

Non@yourbusiness · 10 months ago

This is funny! This will just encourage people to download more stuff through bittorrent.. Way to go TV giants! You killed the TV once again. It would be amazing to look at torrent statistics. I bet tv shows downloads go up 100000%.

Nzero · 10 months ago

Why pull all of Hulu's content from Boxee? Why not just pull the content from that one content owner from Boxee. That way us Boxee users can still enjoy the rest of the content Hulu has to offer. It is a win for Hulu, a win for Boxee, and only a loss to the content owner.

Casey · 10 months ago

Hopefully someone like BoxeeHQ will now develop a Hulu app and make this whole thing go away...

Mike · 10 months ago

So does this mean you're working on integration with more TV networks. Sure, Hulu is great, but if I can get my content directly from the network via Boxee I'm happy.

Thoughts?

Dave · 10 months ago

I'm not a Boxee user (yet) but the solution to this seems day-glo obvious to me: Find the corporate lawyers who have been whispering misguided blather into the media companies' ears. Then eliminate them violently and publicly. Problem solved.

tack · 10 months ago

so... all I have to do is NOT upgrade Boxee and I still get Hulu? I think that's the most troublesome thing for Boxee... not being able to launch 1.0.

Personally, I could give up Hulu if I could get Netflix streaming on Apple TV. But I think I might not grab any more updates till Hulu's back

T W · 10 months ago

NBC will talk when boxee is in the newspapers replacing cable boxes. it has replaced mine.

Adam24 · 10 months ago

everyone, you can let the big networks know your opinion at their respective websites.

Jason · 10 months ago

Isn't boxee GPL? What's to stop an after market patch being applied, or even worse a fork?

coyote · 10 months ago

the media businesses really are fracking idiots w/r/t the internet. they've shown it over and over. this is yet another example of them spitting in the faces of their audience.

threeio · 10 months ago

This makes me very very sad... I hope that hulu can get their content partners on board in the future.

Robert Safuto · 10 months ago

What a dumba$% move by Hulu.

Robert MacEwan · 10 months ago

The Hulu CEO's blog handlers pussied out and removed his post.

justin · 10 months ago

I don't think Boxee can survive without Hulu, and Hulu can't survive without their content providers. It's a bad situation when your product is content and that content is controlled by not one, but two other companies.

Boxee better fix this, or they're dead.

Duke · 10 months ago

Back to pirating I go. Hulu on Boxee worked great on my Apple TV. We don't get anything over the air where I live so back to the piratebay. I wonder how many of you will be joining me there?

crom · 10 months ago

Bummer. It would be nice if Boxee had a stripped down version of firefox as a plugin. this would allow users to potentially get around this issue and give them access to hundreds of other audio/video streaming sites, like surfthechannel.com. just an idea.

Fred · 10 months ago

Very good idea. I don't see any reason Boxee can't just pose as a web browser to get the data it needs, and then jump the flash object to full screen once a selection is made. Why is Hulu's permission necessary? They provide a public web site, and have no real control of the client you use with it, whether that is Firefox, WebKit, a smartphone browser with Flash, or Boxee.

crom · 10 months ago

agreed. what the providers are doing is absolutely absurd. the client is flash, what difference does it make whether it's contained in a web browser or something else. the only possible explanation is that the content providers and perhaps their owners (*cough* cable/satellite companies *cough*) are afraid of boxee's potential. Maybe I'm stretching it a bit here, but i can't think of any other reason they would single out boxee. I've already canceled my cable in favor of a boxee/netflix combo, and I've read about other people doing the same thing.

Calvin · 10 months ago

Before Hulu came, I pirated all of my favorite TV shows commercial free.

Since Hulu + Boxee + AppleTV entered our home, we enjoyed the convenience so much we never minded the ads.

Now that Hulu doesn't love Boxee, I will go back to pirating the TV shows I like to watch.

It's simple math. Next week Hulu's partners just lost two target audience members for their advertisements.

jkk · 10 months ago

fark - just started to invest in digital library and bought appletv over WD media player last week cause I would be able to stream Hulu - was a little ticked since cause I could not stream HD content from CBS - now mega ticked cause I cant stream Hulu - well the pics and such are still good and guess will be ripping more movies/tv shows from netflix

Nsyris2 · 10 months ago

That is ridiculous! I'm outraged!

Jack · 10 months ago

Am I no longer allowed to connect a computer with a webbrowser and flash plugin to my TV anymore?? Isn't that basically was boxee is? How is Hulu asking Boxee to remove the hulu content any different from them asking microsoft to block flash in internet explorer...

Ryan · 10 months ago

It is very easy to see why this has happened. Hulu was enjoying the people who would watch the shows from their computer (read: limited numbers) and the revenue that came from them. Scenario = Win/Win.

When people started chucking out their cable TV service for Boxee/Hulu/AppleTV, the establishment said NO WAY! The infrastructure for cable TV are already in place. The associated costs/fees that came with said service are a cash cow for the (insert your provider's name here). I'm more interested in seeing the whole story ie how the cable/satellite service providers interests are being effected as well as Apple's since their media store, iTunes, is being not used.

Up until this announcement, I was accessing Boxee and Hulu through an AppleTV. Bummer.

Jack · 10 months ago

So, am I not allowed to connect a computer with a web browser and flash plugin to my TV anymore? Isn't that basically what Boxee is?

Ravnwolf · 10 months ago

So, it's time to start a boycott of Hulu until they realize that Boxee was actually trying to help them!

joelgoodman · 10 months ago

Avner, who can we contact? I think we need to move and show the content providers how upset we are with their fear to engage us where we are. Who can we complain to?

yuusou · 10 months ago

Oh no! Say it ain't so. Hulu is a whole 50% of the reason I use boxee! Ehh, content providers are the ones losing the most here, 'cause all this is going to do is take a lot of people back to using bittorrent to dl shows that have no ads. But is anyone surprised here? We all know they're a bunch of big wigs that are completely out of touch with the masses.

Matt Maxwell · 10 months ago

I just emailed hulu and begged them to reconsider this decision. I am very upset. What else can I do?

Webomatica · 10 months ago

This really sucks, because my biggest use of boxee on the Apple TV has been Hulu. Frankly, this kills about 90% of my desire to run boxee. But what's sad is nobody should blame you or Hulu - it's the retarded content providers that make dumb decisions like this, probably because of control.

meh · 10 months ago

Morons. I watched 24 via Hulu, but honestly, it's not even worth torrenting. I say meh. Let em die.

ginswizzle · 10 months ago

this is really disappointing, because boxee really isn't much different from a normal Web browser when it comes to navigating and watching shows on the Hulu site. but the difference is important to viewers - and the content owners / networks that co-own Hulu.

I think the real reason for this cease and desist is the networks fear for the loss of broadcast TV viewership and related ad dollars. it really has very little to do with the Hulu service specifically. the content owners / networks fear boxee because it gives Hulu a TV-ready experience that's usable from across the room with a remote. which is, of course, why we like it so much. but if lots of people start watching most shows this way TV ad dollars will plummet. with a DVR we're at least briefly exposed to most TV commercials during shows.

resolution: instead of blocking new viewership habits, content owners need to work harder t develop new ways to generate revenue from services like Hulu that benefit from the more more personal, social and measurable nature of the Web. I'd personally pay $10-20 a month for the pleasure of watching unlimited content on a TV-ready version of Hulu.

Ryan · 10 months ago

Agreed. Very good points.

But, the main reason that I used Boxee/Hulu was that it was FREE. If you start requiring fees to use the "premium TV service" you are again paying for another service sorta like cable who you dumped for Boxee/Hulu.

ginswizzle · 10 months ago

Hulu may be free to you, but it still earns money because advertisers pay
for your eyeballs and ears.
I don't have cable or satellite or even an analog ota signal, and rely
(almost) solely on legal services like Hulu and iTunes for TV and movies in
my living room. only thing I miss is live sports.

patrick · 10 months ago

Yep. Radalpho you said it best. I want to be a good netizen and was happy to watch the advertising. Take it away(you know it was pissed off cable companies that are behind this) Then back to bit torrent I go.

Spalding you will get nothing and like it!

trigger119 · 10 months ago

Just another example of stupidity by the major broadcast networks. I'm not even a boxee user but I am an observer of trends.

The tried and true "trend" of Hollywood is to be dragged into technological progress kicking and screaming....I'm just sad boxee had to be a casualty.

you know what you do with actions like this, Hollywood? Encourage PIRACY. yeah. nuff said.

Great quote from Valve Software- "Pirates are underserved customers."

John · 10 months ago

Time to go back to bittorrent then! Fucking idiot content providers ... I WANTED to watch their stupid ads on Hulu just because it was a good service... but NOW. Eff it. torrent it is!

Peter · 10 months ago

This decision makes no sense.

I really enjoyed watching Hulu on Boxee. I guess I'll just have to go back to pirating their shows. Good job, content providers!

m · 10 months ago

I'm just gonna put it out there, I'm going to download shows now, from Bittorrent, that are commercial free. You "content providers" still had me watching your ads, but now you can kiss that goodbye.

Scott · 10 months ago

Well I was using this instead of torrents, but now I will just go back to torrents.

Jadin · 10 months ago

Prior to Boxee I NEVER EVER watched an NBC program commercial. EVER! I'd either DVR or find content by some "other" means. With Boxee and Hulu combo, I actually started watching the commercials again for the simple fact that I appreciated the convenience NBC and Boxee were providing me. Guess I'm back to my old (non-profitable for NBC) ways. Truly idiotic!

I honestly think that TV as we know it is on its way out. The major studios/networks will not transition well and their delay will open the way for newly formed competitors. I'm on the verge of canceling cable as it is because I just don't need it anymore. Things like Boxee actually GOT ME watching tv programing again because it brought the content into my new digital world. Seriously, cable is now 98% things I don't care about and 2% I do. And that 2% can be obtained elsewhere easily.

Andy · 10 months ago

Hulu is just ONE thing that makes Boxee cool. I'm not going anywhere and you guys still rock....but...

This move by Hulu is stupid as hell.

So let me get this straight, I can watch the same content, with the same ads in a browser on top of Boxee, but I can't watch it in Boxee? Freaking idiotic as usual from media companies. Impressive short-sightedness.

I thought Alec Baldwin's evil overlords wanted us to watch as much as we could.

withoutink · 10 months ago

what a shame. hulu and boxee was a great partnership. its sad that the world is so greedy. if people would just realize that greed is the whole damn problem today -- this world would not be as f%^&ed up as it is right now.

i smell bailout - something on the lines of this....

mr president we [hulu] dont make any money, no one watches us and we are so sad =( . we used to be installed on every appletv, xbox and the likes. people watched us in the browser. now no one cares. we need your help or we might fail. then who is going to buy our next mega yacht or island? please give us all your money, then we can last for a few months till we need some more assistance... also throw in about 4 extra million the offices need remodeling...

Chris Kamler · 10 months ago

As an alpha tester for Boxee on the Apple TV, I'm disappointed by this move. Hulu has the potential to be awesome - and especially in these early times, I would think Hulu would be looking for ways to embrace new technologies and new ways to get content out there - not freak out and cower in the corner every time something new comes along.

This is a big blow for Boxee because I used it 90% of the time for Hulu content. That being said, I hope Boxee really shoves it in their hulu's when they come cowering back in a year after Boxee is one of the top content providers...

Just remember who your friends are... Hang in there Boxee!!!!

Matt · 10 months ago

I would press Hulu to expose which content providers made the request. We are customers because without us advertisers would not pay to be shown with their programing. We have a right and need to speak up.

Dustin · 10 months ago

It's sad to know that the loss of Hulu on Boxee will only promote internet piracy and reduce revenue for the networks. Stupid move big networks, stupid move.

withoutink · 10 months ago

nom nom nom

buh-bye hulu · 10 months ago

Hulu's doomed. And that's not news. we all knew that long before they launched, when it was first announced that OLD MEDIA CO's were going to try their hands at a "web 2.0 start-up". yes, we were distracted momentarily by a great (and I mean great) user experience. But don't let great code fool you: this business is, and always was, effed. Repeat after me: Big Media + Internet = EPIC FAIL.

Bonny · 10 months ago

Once again, big name content owners are stifling innovation by resisting the new era. BT wins again.

withoutink · 10 months ago

as a side note. think about installing a browser inside boxee - like firefox or opera, then we can still watch their crap if we wanted to in the confines of firefox or opera.... -- FTW

Greg Vedders · 10 months ago

Like the many posters before me, I have to admit I'm very disappointed that Hulu would pull out of Boxee. On the other hand, I do realize that Boxee is a serious threat to the cable/satellite industry. The content partners ultimately make large amounts money from the networks and cable/satellite subscriptions. Boxee is a serious threat to those business models and they know it. They have taken the "necessary" step to save their business model. It's unfortunate that the innovation and the future of media distribution has to be placed on hold for now. The good news is that in time the content partners will have to adapt. People want their media to be free (not necessarily free as in cost, as much as free as in inter-operable). In time the developers of Boxee will be proven right and the future of media will be an Internet aware device that aggregates our media in one place, giving us the ability to watch what we want, when we want, and where we want.

Louis Sypher · 10 months ago

Hulu and their content providers are just restricting the access to content to legitimate connected devices such as produced by Samsung and LG. Really guys, do you honestly think that the future of connected TV is boxee? Hardly. The big boys will steal the ideas and put it on their hardware.

whoodle · 10 months ago

NBC just made an awfully stupid decision.

I am going back to torrenting their shows
Hereos, Hells Kitchen, The Simpsons, Kitchen Nightmares, Family Guy, etc...

vassar · 10 months ago

They are idiots. What more would you expect?

Matthew · 10 months ago

way to screw the pooch, hulu. Back to BT for me.

daviddanielcox · 10 months ago

Reminds me of when NBC pulled out of iTunes... sort of like a petulant child throwing a futile tantrum against a changing world.

Well, I guess NBC and its content goes back to being completely irrelevant to me. Good job.

Facebook User · 10 months ago

Keep up the great work and don't let this stifle your creativity!

PaulR · 10 months ago

Typical of old men in power and fear of a paradigm shift.
It's just their (content's) way of negotiating (forcing) boxee to pay them for the content. Also, boxee basically undermines the cable/satellite companies....oh...which own in part the content making firms or pay royalties to show the "content.." Take away the revenue machine and someone has to pay.....i.e Boxee users.
Advertising on Hulu would have to ramp up to offset the losses suffered by the cable/satellite companies.
XBMC has alternate plug-ins for some of the same content. Back to the ole' black box.

LostBits · 10 months ago

I want my Hulu back :-(

Boxee is still awesome but it was even better with Hulu support

shaneo · 10 months ago

This is why bit torrent will never die. The inability of "business" to understand that innovation takes precedent over profit astounds me, but more so, saddens me. Knowing that we live in a society that prides itself on freedom, yet one cannot share/aggregate a medium that appears for free, over a dying content delivery system -- is just maddening.

PaulR · 10 months ago

Part 2:

Boxee, you guys have done a hell of a job! I love the product along with XBMC! I'm sure someday a settlement will arrive. It may cost you dearly, but it may come.

Keep up the great work on a great product!

Random_Tangent · 10 months ago

I pretty much stopped BitTorrenting because of Hulu. It's not like it was a conscious or moral decision, it was just quicker and easier. Not having Hulu on my TV means my needs will be met more easily by piracy once again.

ralph · 10 months ago

Put a browser on boxee and your users can surf there themself duh.

Sam Hall · 10 months ago

I love Hulu and Boxee. Using them together is a great experience. Being able to use them on AppleTV is absolutely brilliant.

I get most of my favorite shows, I can save money and I can watch what I want when I want.

Losing Hulu on Boxee means, I'll watch some Hulu on my laptops, but I'll stop watching a good bit. I'm not going back to cable or satellite, because I don't want to spend that kind of money for the content I use.

I hope the content providers will find a way for Hulu to return to Boxee.

mirkob · 10 months ago

boxee with no hulu is almost useless. But I don't understand why Hulu can't be there... I see the commercials... so what's the difference from the official Hulu site?

dang I messed up my apple tv just recently for that.

Keith Porter · 10 months ago

My guess... their content partners are in bed with cable and satellite services. These companies should either embrace internet content or they open themselves to illegal downloading of their content.

SeanO · 10 months ago

They're aliens, and I guess this is how they roll. What a steaming pile of awful.

mirkob · 10 months ago

boxee with no hulu is almost useless. But I don't understand why Hulu can't be there... I see the commercials... so what's the difference from the official Hulu site?

dang I messed up my apple tv just recently for that.

chrisindallas · 10 months ago

I'll keep using Boxee on my Apple TV, but I'll be damned if I'll watch any Hulu on my laptop or sitting at my desk. Hulu just missed their chance to be in every living room.

Kurt C · 10 months ago

I'm not going anywhere, guys. I'm officially boycotting Hulu, though. I know it's not Hulu's fault (rather the content provider's), but this asinine behavior has to be nipped in the bud. I love what Boxee is doing and this will not deter me from still using it as my main form of entertainment consumption. But Hulu and I are done until Boxee support is re-instated.

Hell, I really only got in to Hulu when I got Boxee in the first place. I can't stand consuming long form content with a mouse and keyboard. I need a remote and a TV for that. Without a remote Hulu has lost this user. And without Boxee support, they've gained themselves one more vocal opponent.

SeanO · 10 months ago

Does this have to do with the SAG negotiations? As far as "content providers" isn't Hulu a joint venture between Fox and NBC/Universal? They ARE the content providers, no?

Bittorent User · 10 months ago

That'd fine. My Bittorrent RSS feed source has a better resolution anyway.

Joe · 10 months ago

We need a BringHuluBack.com petition. I think the domain is available.

The only thing I can possibly think of as to why they would want Hulu off boxee, is that Hulu is trying to position them self to license the content to other devices. Devices like TV's that are internet ready, a native apple tv player (yea right) or other devices like Xbox 360.

jorge.vargas · 10 months ago

then ***** them, I really dislike their service they block me by region, (but we re on the internet) I guess we need new content producers...

XBMC · 10 months ago

I know its not Hulu's fault, but these retarded "content providers" who want to hang on to a dinosaur of a business model. We'll Screw them.

XBMC for which boxed is based on, was primarily developed to watch stuff downloaded through bittorrent. Long live BITTORRENT!!!!!!

uluh · 10 months ago

So, boxee just became another illegal torrent manager. How's Napster and Kazaa doin' these days? Most people just don't want to break the law. Those that don't care about the law, probably won't care much about the hulu move.

BTW, hulu and netflix worked much better in IE7 than inside boxee anyway. The software just isn't that great YET, but I could see they were going someplace.

Andres Lucero · 10 months ago

If Hulu truly wants this and is willing to fight on Boxee's behalf, that's great... and in six months we might get Hulu back. In the meantime, there are plenty of torrents out there for everyone to enjoy.

Kris · 10 months ago

I'm crying. Hulu made me love the networks for allowing their content to be shown online in such a great way. Hulu on Boxee made me love them even more and watch more television than I normally would have. Hulu being taken off Boxee at the networks' request cancels all of that out. I feel as if the networks kicked me right in the balls and laughed while they took my shoes.

kiler0n · 10 months ago

Unbelievable. Content providers are too short sighted to see the value that Boxee brings. I went from not watching Hulu to watching it every week.

Danny · 10 months ago

I Just deleted my Hulu account!

W2ed · 10 months ago

This is just an idea, but you could just incorporate a web browser (possibly using something open-source, from either Mozilla or Webkit) into your package with "enhanced" functionality to streamline it. Chances are, hulu wants to control the way they present their information, so if it's in an ordinary web browser, they can't complain. Just an idea.

Greg · 10 months ago

THIS IS YET ANOTHER REASON WHY I F HATE NBC IN ADDITION TO THEIR OTHER LEFT WINGED WACKO ANCHOR NONSENSE! HULU IS A GREAT THING - THE CONTENT PROVIDERS THAT WANTED HULU PULLED SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC!

Someonewhodoesnt know · 10 months ago

uh...wtf is boxee

Richard · 10 months ago

And the world wonders why the United States is failing... no one can make a smart business move anymore. Byebye Hulu... I felt like I barely knew you and certainly won't be missing you. Idiots.

Matt Smith · 10 months ago

Hulu is one of the main reasons that I use boxee. Take away Hulu, and, well, I don't have near as much of a reason to use boxee. And I'm not about to sit on my couch with a keyboard and mouse squinting at a web browser in order to watch TV shows.

Keep Hulu on boxee! Best of luck to Avner and the team.

DrangUndSturm · 10 months ago

So I"m guessing that hulu's content providers are threatened by the fact that many (as I am) are contemplating canceling cable and replacing it with some sort of boxee setup. I can understand why they and their partners feel threatened by that.

What I can't understand is that, now that this whole hulu experiment has got scarier for them, why content providers think the same impetus that got them to try hulu in the first place (the music industry's experience with illegal downloads) has evaporated. It obviously hasn't.

Maybe they just think they can squeeze a few hundred billion more out of the techphobic boomer generation before they die off. But won't if boxee makes going cableless too easy. If so, forget it. genie's out of the bottle, boys. Pandora's box yawns. Embrace the new world fully, or be screwed.

Facebook User · 10 months ago

I know personally I used Boxee and Hulu quite a bit. If i wanted to rewatch a show from this season that was already on my DVR I would rewatch it on boxee + hulu. i really believe these 2 companies are the two brightest futures in entertainment and they really need to reconcile their differences. I hope you sort this out and get them soon.

And to all the people that aren't going to use boxee it is very much your loss.

Facebook User · 10 months ago

This many comments in an hour, how can Hulu ignore how much they will lose with this move. Is there any sign that they will work with boxee to resolve this, or did you get the impression they won't budge?

chad · 10 months ago

I've only watched Hulu because of Boxee. I'm pretty sure that's what most ppl will say. C'mon Hulu get your act together....it's not a hard sell.

Nick · 10 months ago

Thank you for promoting a positive response - refreshing and the right thing to do. Glad to be part of a community like this; looking forward to touting the benefits of the relationship and not placing blame.

Hulu was not as gracious in their posting. They place the onus on the content providers and position themselves as a pawn with Boxee playing the role as the jester.

I've encourage Hulu to be part of the "brave new world" they reference. Maybe that means being part of this community, not subject to the content providers. The reality is that their contracts probably allow for those provisions, but perhaps its time for them to re-examine their own relationships.

Great work as always Team Boxee!

James B · 10 months ago

Why Hulu why?!?!?

Dougie · 10 months ago

I agree with many of the other comments. I will continue to use Boxee, and will support future versions... but I will mourn the loss of Hulu as that was one of the first things that struck me about how cool this interface is.

Hulu is making a huge loss of broadcast opportunities by removing their content from Boxee. I still watch the commercials that Hulu is using to drive ad sales via Boxee. Why does it make sense to remove me an easy channel to watch their ads?

Jonathan Norman · 10 months ago

Hulu was never a serious venture for the "content providers". They
threw it up as a bargaining chip for iTunes. Once Hulu gained some
popularity they were fine. They did not anticipate that other
services like Boxee would bring Hulu to the TV via set top boxes and
media servers. Now they're scared because it works, not only for them
as providers, but for us as consumers. Boxee played by their rules and
it's still not enough. Wake up! Analog thoughts in a digital world do
not innovate, they hold everyone back. They are not "content
providers" they are "content theives". Take from writers, actors,
consumers and give to themselves. What is the use in having a show
if you won't let anyone else watch.

Matt Simmons · 10 months ago

I'm rooting for you (and other similar media repackagers). The original media providers are shooting themselves in the foot by stopping people from watching their IP.

No one using Boxee would deny that the sources own the IP. You're not even stripping ads. Why wouldn't they want to increase viewership as much as possible? I'd be glad of ANYONE enabling more people to access my media.

jyoseph · 10 months ago

This is totally nuts. Wow. Hulu is nuts.

I agree with another commenter here, Hulu was just a single thing that added to the awesomeness of Boxee. Sad that Hulu has to miss out on this opportunity because of their "content providers". Didn't their "content providers" agree to have their content streamed publicly over the internet?

Also doesn't their content come w/ ads? So isn't it true that the revenue from that would be the same regardless of where the content was viewed?

Jon-Michael Herrmann · 10 months ago

The only reason I went to HULU is through boxee. I'm thoroughly disappointed.

SketchStudios · 10 months ago

sorry for double-post, got a 505 error because so many people voicing their concerns on this situation.

Matt G · 10 months ago

to be honest, I have no idea what Hulu is, and everyone keeps going on about it!
Is it an American thingy?

godsized · 10 months ago

I guess its back to the old bit torrent route to watch shows I've missed. All that add revenue that I would have been willing to watch while using Hulu on Boxee will just not get watched. I am willing to put dollar to doughnuts and say that I am not the only one in this row boat. Just when I think that the media industry is coming around they take two steps back and dig a hole to get out of.

SketchStudios · 10 months ago

I sincerely hope for Hulu's dignity sake that they are not doing this without much resistance on the content providers so they can make their OWN Boxee clone. It would be not only a kick in the face to Boxee but to the viewers. Because we all know if that happens they wont make it free like Boxee does. I do hope that Boxee raises this important issue with Hulu and ask them straight out "Do you have any plans for a Hulu content box or external distribution model besides the Hulu.com website?" Either way, as a Boxee user and early adopter I will not be visiting the Hulu.com website any longer until they change their attitude on the situation. People are dying to get their hands on Hulu's content in a way that is easy like Boxee's, even willing to watch MORE ad's. But when Hulu does not stand up to the content providers for their own users then it starts to smell fishy. Yes, it is the content and its content providers that make up Hulu, but whats more important? Content that is delivered and not watched (therefor not raising revenue), or standing up for your users and the future of media content delivery and doing the right thing. Possible that content providers back out? Of course, but remember they need us a lot more then we need them. Hulu execs, if you listen to just one comment out of all of these I beg you to hear me out. Do the right thing. I sincerely hope Hulu is around forever, but in the eventual case that it exceeds its time - what would you rather have it go out with? Like a struggling kitten thrown into the deep ocean because its not loved anymore or like a proud lion who gave its last roar and fought the cruel hyenas who came to eat its cubs while the entire animal kingdom watches proudly and salutes his triumphant efforts? You decide.
I wish you the best of luck Hulu.

Boxee, you keep on doing what your doing. Right on Right on.

---
@sketchstudios

Hithah · 10 months ago

This was a very bad move on the content providers' part.

I don't like watching content on my laptop. I much prefer to watch it on my TV. I bought an AppleTV specifically so that I could watch Hulu content on my TV via Boxee. Because of Boxee, I was watching several shows through Hulu, marathoning through entire seasons and series, and was quite happily watching countless commercials. I never would have seen any of these commercials had it not been for Boxee, because watching a TV show on my laptop is of no interest to me. I've never watched a full episode of anything on Hulu via my laptop. It's not how I want to consume my content.

DVDs showed up on my Christmas wish list as a direct result of my Hulu-on-the-TV-via-Boxee experience as I was exposed to new TV series. How is that not great news for the content providers, that Hulu on Boxee was encouraging DVD sales as well as generating ad views? Content owners, you were making money off of me by having your content accessible though Boxee, money that you may otherwise not see from me!

I hope the content owners change their minds. I want to watch Hulu on my TV, and I was quite happy to watch Hulu ads in exchange for this service. Why are the content owners so hesitant to accept my commercial views simply because they show up on my 40" TV screen instead of my 17" laptop screen?

Facebook User · 10 months ago

This sucks, really bad. I dropped cable and bought a AppleTV to install Boxee for this. Boxee is still rocks, I'll still be around... can't promise I'll be around alot... but here watching and waiting. I have faith, hopefully you can work something out.

Best of luck.

Facebook User · 10 months ago

i have forwarded my concerns to legal@hulu.com. I suggest everyone else do the same...

bjtitus · 10 months ago

STUPID, STUPID move on Hulu's content partner's part! All this will do is have me watching more pirated content and using less of Hulu. Hulu is a fantastic product but I will be using it far less now that there is no more Boxee compatibility. Unfortunately, the user base that these networks went after by blocking Boxee is also the most adept with the internet and will have no problem finding other places to get this content.

Listen up content producers of all kind (music, tv, movies). Piracy is happening because of these situations. If you can't provide your content to the people quickly and for a reasonable price, they will go somewhere else to get it. I continue to marvel at how these companies are still able to operate while making such terrible business decisions.

atomic1fire · 10 months ago

I totally support you guys, the more power to you.
You took a great, if questionable medium (xbmc) and gave it more integration with online video.

Chris Westergaard · 10 months ago

No need to add on to the piling on here. I agree with everything said, and will be using my Tivo now to 'not' watch commercials during NBC / Fox content. I tried to post a reply on the Hulu blog, and noticed that after receiving and posting 70 comments in the first hour (44 more than any other post had ever received this year), they seemed to stop adding posts. Perhaps they are trying to stifle the obvious outcry of this stupid decision.
After all, their attempt to pawn off the decision on their 'content partners' rings hollow, as they are owned by those same partners.
Good luck boxee team, please make them see just how big a mistake they are making.

zac_in_ak · 10 months ago

I watch hulu on my laptop and on my big screen via a mac mini running boxee and have to say content providers are just not getting it more media in more places will bring in the money, locking up your content is a sure bet to lose money and foster behaviour that earns you NO money. I will not steal content I just won't view any of their content..period on hulu OR regular broadcast.

Scott Taylor · 10 months ago

This is so frustrating to see the bridge between new media and old media get torn down to appeal to the old way of doing things. Keep locking down the content and restricting its use and people will continue to pirate. Simple as that. The biggest thing being torrented for the last few years isn't music, it's TV shows. With hulu streamed through boxee, it was a legal way to watch your content and your advertisements streamed directly through my appletv.

No hulu streamed through boxee to the appletv means I don't watch your content. Period. Once old media realizes that you've gotta give a little to gain, maybe you guys can bridge the gap. I'm just glad I've still got my DVR

Jacob · 10 months ago

I bought an appleTV literally 74 minutes before this blog post because of Boxee and Hulu. The other features are nice and all, but Netflix and Hulu consisted of 80% of the reason why I bought the thing.

I hope this can get figured out quickly, otherwise I'll have to decide if I should return the appleTV.

Bob · 10 months ago

hulu needs to realize that boxee is important to their success. I want WAY more hulu through boxee because of the remote capable interface than what i watch by going to the hulu website.

Boxee did an excellent implementation and hulu should be proud to have such a piece of software freely supporting a for profit enterprise like hulu

drummerjoe · 10 months ago

Goodbye, Hulu. Hello, Pirate Bay.

Ian · 10 months ago

So sad. FINALLY a LEGAL method to watch tv online and just as it gets going it's yanked out from under itself.

I know what I'll be doing.

guiambros · 10 months ago

I just posted my comment on hulu's site too, but not sure if it'll be published, so I'm posting here too.

Boxee: we love hulu, but we love you even more :o) This is not a zero-sum game: we can and will have both. If this means we'll have to use multiple interfaces for a while, that's fine. There's no way to put the genius back in the bottle, so now it's just a matter of time.


---
after 70 other posts, what else can I say? Yes Jason, you're nuts but you already admitted that upfront :o) Yes, studios are insanely stupid and users will find other ways to consume the content - and through means that studios won't see any revenue at all - but half the users above also mentioned that. Yes, we love hulu, but unless you give it in the way AND WHERE the users want it, they'll have to find another way around. But you know all this, right Jason?

What is impressive is that you're leaving money on the table. Instead of giving users what they want - and making money with it - hulu and/or content owners are in denial of the obvious truth: that video entertainment WILL BE fragmented, interactive and on demand, and that the traditional cable companies don't add ANY value to users and will be soon gone.

So, don't worry, we have short memory and we'll probably forgive you in the future (when you recover your sanity, of course). For now feel free to keep your finger in the dike as much as you want; in the meantime we'll pretend we're subservient users and we'll just watch live TV on the TV, and hulu on the small pc screen. As you expect us to do, right?

(o;
---

(btw, for all others boxee orphans here: www.PlayOn.com works nicely and it is circumventing Hulu's technology or T&C so it can't be shut down. Also there are hulu's rss out there and PS3/linux browsers should work fine too. Or, better yet, just put a macmini plugged on your tv..)

turbobrown · 10 months ago

I fail to understand what this achieves for hulu and their partners. The advertising is integrated into the media, so I view it whether I watch it at hulu.com or via boxee. When I tell people why I canceled my cable and where/how I watch my TV now, the message is always a combination of hulu and boxee so it's not as the hulu's brand takes a hit. If anything it is enhanced because it's basically my sole source of TV broadcasts.
Have these people not heard that iTunes now sells music DRM free today in spite of a history of the music industry trying to protect and control the distribution and consumption of its content?
When will they learn that the methods of distribution and consumption are now among the least significant factor. Rather they should be looking to every distribution channel possible (within reason) to reach as many people as they can.
It's unfortunate that if this stands it renders boxee basically impotent in the near term for my purposes. Hulu on my appleTV is basically my only use for boxee. Now I need to go get a piece of hardware that can run an internet browser that I can hook up to my TV via HDMI.
Avner, I think what you and your team have created has great potential and I hope you find a way to help these old media companies see that their participation in...heck their endorsement of boxee is in their own best interests.

brian · 10 months ago

It's been said many times on this board; some more eloquently, some more colorfully. This is stupid pure and simple. Boxee users are by definition early adopters, fairly tech savvy, and obviously willing to watch ads to consume content wherever the heck we want to consume content. Cutting off *this* audience not only means not only that we will all just go back to other (non ad-supported) ways to see the same stuff... but we are guaranteed to whine about it. Loudly. Boneheads.

topher S · 10 months ago

I convinced my wife to buy an HDTV so we can connect a computer for Boxee and Mythtv. Hulu was one of the factors that won her over. that was Sunday, it is Wednesday. I too was one of those who considered piracy a viable option until i found Boxee. I guess I am going to have to re-evaluate my options.

ediddy999 · 10 months ago

I have nothing profound to say, but this sucks. I love Hule and Boxee as if they were somehow one in the same. Alas they are not, but I will continue to support Boxee because I believe that Boxee's vision is the vision for me.

John Furrier · 10 months ago

This is a big failure for Hulu. Jason basically said that in his post. I'm sorry.

missed opportunity for them

Sean · 10 months ago

What people should realize is that this is a sad situation for everyone. Boxee loses because Hulu was the best part about Boxee. Hulu loses because there are less Boxee users and people are mad because Hulu decided to take this step. Also, Hulu will no longer be convenient for people to use. But the content providers lose, as well. First off, they don’t get ad clicks from Hulu users because not as many people visit Hulu. Also, there are no clicks from Boxee. Now here is the interesting part: Boxee is seen as a threat to content providers, because their main source of revenue is cable TV subscriptions. Boxee has the capability of connecting directly to your television set, which may jeopardize cable TV subscriptions. However, what will happen is that people will find different ways of accessing content, most of which are far less legal than Boxee. Some may even go as far as canceling their cable subscriptions anyway.
What is truly sad is that all of this is because there’s someold but, completely-out-of-touch CEO somewhere that is shortsighted enough not to realize that content providers will end up losing more if they really pull the plug on Hulu + Boxee.
I hope Boxee can talk some sense into them.

anonymous · 10 months ago

The studios don't want you to hack your AppleTV to run Boxee, because with the AppleTV OS they earn more money having you pay for each TV show episode or Movie... Whereas with Boxee it's all ad supported...
Oh well... back to bittorrenting again.... It was fun while it lasted...

Sean · 10 months ago

What people should realize is that this is a sad situation for everyone. Boxee loses because Hulu was the best part about Boxee. Hulu loses because there are less Boxee users and people are mad because Hulu decided to take this step. Also, Hulu will no longer be convenient for people to use. But the content providers lose, as well. First off, they don’t get ad clicks from Hulu users because not as many people visit Hulu. Also, there are no clicks from Boxee. Now here is the interesting part: Boxee is seen as a threat to content providers, because their main source of revenue is cable TV subscriptions. Boxee has the capability of connecting directly to your television set, which may jeopardize cable TV subscriptions. However, what will happen is that people will find different ways of accessing content, most of which are far less legal than Boxee. Some may even go as far as canceling their cable subscriptions anyway.
What is truly sad is that all of this is because there’s someold but, completely-out-of-touch CEO somewhere that is shortsighted enough not to realize that content providers will end up losing more if they really pull the plug on Hulu + Boxee.
I hope that Boxee will talk some sense into them.

LizJ · 10 months ago

LOL, thse are the same "content providers" resisted, resisted, resisted iTunes till they finally realized they were stabbing themselves in the back. And they are stabbing themselves in the back by cutting off Boxee (100,00 streams last week from a product still in alpha? Yes, they are nuts). Streaming media is the way for companies to retain control of their content and with embedded commercials it really shouldn't matter HOW someone accesses that content, through a web site or through an interface like Boxee.

Dan M · 10 months ago

This is very sad news. I knew about hulu before I found Boxee, but I rarely used it. Since I found Boxee I've used it to watch a bunch of show on hulu that I dont normally watch due to timing conflicts with other shows. Boxee made it easier for me to watch those shows on Hulu than having to go through my internet browser. I WANT to watch TV on my computer, but I don't want to do it through an internet browser. Firefox is great for what it's for, but it's an inelegant solution for watching high quality long form video. That's what makes Boxee great!

I hope this decision gets reconsidered and soon!

Mike C. · 10 months ago

How exactly are they 'pulling support' for Boxee? What legal standing is there? It's essentially damn near the asme things as saying Hulu pulls support from Firefox browsers.

Pox · 10 months ago

This is just so sad. You think they would be happy that people are watching HULU on there TV, what is a TV any more CRT's or Plasma? Were do they draw the line? Are you now only aloud to watch HULU if your LCD monitor doesn't have a turner in it?

Kaffeinated · 10 months ago

Wow. That's nuts.

Bad move for said content providers, and the folks at Hulu need to start getting the idea that their product needs to be kept fluid and adaptable to their content providers, stat. The whole thing is pointless if it can't grow with new and emerging technologies and platforms. It's not about control any more, it's about ubiquity and the opportunities that it provides, and the content providers in question fail to get that.

Richard Van Dyke · 10 months ago

You have got to be kidding me! Boxee+Hulu was a no brainer. It just made good sense for everybody. I happily watched the ads! In my opinion it's the cable companies behind this. Comcast and the like feels threatened by Hulu in the living room. I don't care. This seals the deal for me. I will call my cable provider TODAY and cancel. I will continue to support Boxee. Choice is the future of media content. Keep on keeping on boxee team, you guys are awsome.

Giannii · 10 months ago

The only reason I use Hulu is because of Boxee on my AppleTV. I hope they can realize the power of this awesome app.

alien · 10 months ago

It's simple. BOYCOTT HULU! fuckers!

RicoSauve · 10 months ago

What the hell is Hulu? oh yeah, yet another US based website that is restricted to supposed NAFTA partners like Canada and Mexico.
I fail to see logic in restricting access to online videos, when I can just point a sat dish at the sky and pickup wild feeds of the shows anyway. (or even a big enough antenna to get air broadcasts, yes I live that close to the boarder)

Score one more for short sighted greedy old men that can't see the trends in front of them.

Frank_hay · 10 months ago

Does boxee use an api that hulu is removing which would discontinue that api for everyone and not just boxee? Is hulu allowed to say that firefox users can't browse their content or that osx machines aren't allowed to use their site? Where is the line? I don't understand what is changing here? Are people named frank not allowed to view their content as well?

Joshua Willis · 10 months ago

Hulu boycott group sign up can be found here. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=515786695...

Lee Waters · 10 months ago

For what it's worth in your deliberations: we only watch Hulu on Boxee in this household. If this situation holds, we won't be watching Hulu at all. This isn't because we'll boycott it; it's just that Boxee is the best delivery method for Hulu. We have no interest in their content over computer, but over Boxee? Sign us up, ads and all!

CC1 · 10 months ago

Why can't hulu do like Netflix and create a special API for playing content in boxee? From hulu's standpoint they probably want people visiting their own website in order to have the experience as they intended (unlike Netflix their entire model is streaming video right now), but maybe a comporomise could be reached where select shows could be displayed through the API, while other content is shown exclusively on the hulu website. It's not perfect but at least it's a way to get hulu back on boxee ...

Brian · 10 months ago

It just goes to show that early adopters aren't profitable.

Seriously though, this is unfortunate. Avner, I think you should try to make the case that Boxee brings in viewers for ads that may have otherwise been lost to DVR ad skipping.

But, maybe it means you need to be vertically integrated from content partnerships to hardware in order to get the content owners to listen (read: provide unique and valuable advertising opportunities with a 10 ft interface).

It especially sucks because Boxee could have made Hulu into the ad-supported iTunes (which content partners rarely pull stuff from)

avneron · 10 months ago

i think there are many ways in which Hulu's content partners can benefit from working with boxee. we will try to share with them our vision. i hope they will be open to listening.

Brian · 10 months ago

I hope you'll be willing to share the presentation-in the spirit of open source :)

Good luck. We're all pulling for you

Steven J. Needham · 10 months ago

My Hulu watching substantially increased with Boxee. Best. Idea. Ever.

Now with it gone, I will rarely or never watch Hulu.

Oh well, back to my trusty Tivo, where I can easily skip the commercials!

PS Boxee is a great piece of software! Keep up the good work.

xmascarol7 · 10 months ago

I hadn't used Hulu before Boxee. I had no idea Hulu had so many great options, and Boxee introduced me to them. I likely will not use Hulu moving forward, because its just so unintuitive.

It is important to understand the demographic of the people who use Bittorrent and the people who use Boxee: they're about the same. Boxee came along and gave people who pirate a reason not to pirate anymore, and instead watch the ad-supported content. The response from NBC and FOX is seemingly to reject this medium. The pirates who gave up pirating to utilize Hulu through Boxee aren't going to revert to Hulu, they're going to revert to piracy.

NBC has a history of missing the mark with digital distribution. iTunes made it easy for people to pay for their TV shows, and NBC universal took issue with that. Now they're taking issue with a product that makes it easier for people to use a service they developed!

jccrosby · 10 months ago

That is def some bad news - You guys rocks! I hope the content providers catch up to what the users and tech providers like you guys want to use and provide!

Jason Martin · 10 months ago

When will the content providers realize that when they elliminate easy, legitimate means of consuming content (like Hulu on Boxee provides), users won't use the more complicated methods? They will simply use easy, ILLEGITIMATE means (like bittorrent)!

Hulu on Boxee seemed to be the perfect marriage. It was free, legit, and provided a real alternative to downloading illegally. People don't want to break the law, but when content providers pull crap like this, they make it that much easier for users to steal their material. For their own sake, I hope the content providers change their minds on this.

freality · 10 months ago

It is unfortunate that these content execs do not see the value in applications like boxee. Through Hulu on Boxee I've been introduced to content I otherwise wouldn't have known existed. Content that I will not seek-out through other means. The synergies of the two work for me in ways that Hulu alone will not. I don't have the time to sit through scheduled programming. I'm will not watch long-form content on a computer.

When I decompress around mid-night, I flip-on my boxee and watch my programs on a screen that was designed for WATCHING SHOWS! If Hulu is not there, there's no shortage of other content on my boxee; I'll enjoy that (and its advertising).

I can only imagine these execs have not taken the time to try Boxee. They probably don't even know that Hulu content is streamed in its entirety (meaning with advertisements).

Mohan · 10 months ago

Ain't right, and this just means that "they just don't get it!"

Siminoff · 10 months ago

Good luck guys, fuck you Hulu

Tom · 10 months ago

The "content partners" are still stuck in 2007 and don't get that things change and fast you either get on the bus or you get run over. People will still get the content they want for free, many times ad free if they click two more times. Make your choice easy access with ad, or a few more steps and its free no ads.

DRM FREE IS THE WAY TO BE · 10 months ago

Like my professor of Psychology once said, "People need satisfaction." EVER WONDER WHY DRM IS FAILING?!!! People PAY for a song to find that it only works for one device. So I will buy a song for my pc, ipod, iphone, cellphone, one to burn to disc. So let's recap: That's like paying 5.00 x 12 songs = $60.00 for an album. People realize what sounds fair, and THAT certainly does not. Also Boxee goes through Hulu anyways, so whats the point for removal. Duh!!!

DRM FREE IS THE WAY TO BE · 10 months ago

Like my professor of Psychology once said, "People need satisfaction." EVER WONDER WHY DRM IS FAILING?!!! People PAY for a song to find that it only works for one device. So I will buy a song for my pc, ipod, iphone, cellphone, one to burn to disc. So let's recap: That's like paying 5.00 x 12 songs = $60.00 for an album. People realize what sounds fair, and THAT certainly does not. Also Boxee goes through Hulu anyways, so whats the point for removal. Duh!!!

DRM FREE IS THE WAY TO BE · 10 months ago

Like my professor of Psychology once said, "People need satisfaction." EVER WONDER WHY DRM IS FAILING?!!! People PAY for a song to find that it only works for one device. So I will buy a song for my pc, ipod, iphone, cellphone, one to burn to disc. So let's recap: That's like paying 5.00 x 12 songs = $60.00 for an album. People realize what sounds fair, and THAT certainly does not. Also Boxee goes through Hulu anyways, so whats the point for removal. Duh!!!

DRM FREE IS THE WAY TO BE · 10 months ago

Like my professor of Psychology once said, "People need satisfaction." EVER WONDER WHY DRM IS FAILING?!!! People PAY for a song to find that it only works for one device. So I will buy a song for my pc, ipod, iphone, cellphone, one to burn to disc. So let's recap: That's like paying 5.00 x 12 songs = $60.00 for an album. People realize what sounds fair, and THAT certainly does not. Also Boxee goes through Hulu anyways, so whats the point for removal. Duh!!!

Charles Terry · 10 months ago

I hope that the content providers read this and really think about this... THIS IS WHY THINGS LIKE PIRATE BAY EXIST. Stop trying to think that Boxee should be licensing your content in order to use it in the software. They were pulling the content thru Hulu which is a win for Hulu advertisers and your getting your licensing fees from Hulu due to Boxee providing more eyeballs for the content. Boxee doesn't need to license your content to display it. Let them provide the viewer saturation thru the Hulu integration and get your licensing fee's from Hulu. If you wont allow great products to use other great products / services (Hulu + Boxee = Pea's & Carrots), the don't be surprised why your in Sweden trying to shut down a torrent site that is used by people to download your content for free. Time to come into the 21 century and embrace digital technologies and how we want to use them. Stop trying to act like David Sarnoff.

kevin · 10 months ago

I am one of those people who have been excited by the prospect of hulu, where I can watch the tv shows I want to watch, when I want to watch them. Legally. Boxee is one of the few products that allows me to do so in a clean interface. I don't mind the ads, but certainly am not going to pay a couple bucks per episode to purchase TV episodes from places like itunes.

Please tell your content providers that they are only sending the masses back to illegal downloads of the television content, where they are not getting ad revenue like they do with Hulu.

Greg · 10 months ago

Bring Hulu back! This is madness! Boxee is just like Safari or Internet Explorer!

Sergio · 10 months ago

One of the reasons I love HULU on Boxee on TV is that it is "WIFE FRIENDLY", EASY to USE. I can hook my laptop up to the TV, or watch on the small laptop screen but why??? if I am the only one in the house that will do that. Now with Hulu on Boxee, thru the AppleTV, my Kids, and my wife can just click a few buttons and watch their content, to be honest there is not a day that has gone by that hulu has not been being used, and for quite sometime, my kids love the old shows the old man used to watch, wife and I catch up on episodes of things we have not seen, or movies we would otherwise not rent etc. Sad that the future of content delivery is being shunned by the content providers themselves. Rest assured we will continue using BOXEE, just now I will have to get back to torrents & newsgroups.

Chris · 10 months ago

Here's my question... isn't Boxee open source? Hulu can tell Boxee to stop supporting thier content, but they can't tell other developers not to create their own Hulu plug-in that everyone could just add on themselves, right? Hulu didn't give anything special to Boxee to allow it to interface, so it's really not taking anything away from what the open-source community can do. Maybe you guys at BoxeeHQ should look into that....

This move shouldn't stop Hulu from appearing in Boxee, if we get enough smart people involved.

alex · 10 months ago

Let the content providers cling to their out dated business model, its not our job to give them tips on how they can implicitly discourage viewers from illegally obtaining content in a way that costs them (the providers) nothing and only boosts viewership. Let them catch on at their own rate.

Jonathan Wilson · 10 months ago

This is just stupid, the number of people who have said that without Hulu. they will go back to BitTorrent or a PVR with ad-skip (and then multiply that number by the silent majority who will do the same thing and not post here about it) should give the content providers pause.

I guess as some have said, the real problem is the number of people who are using Boxee + Hulu to replace an expensive cable/satellite plan (either by not having cable/satellite at all or by dropping down to a much cheaper tier)

Timothy Idol · 10 months ago

Wait.... The "Content Providers" requested hulu be removed from Boxee... That would be Fox and NBC. So... They told themselves to request hulu be removed from Boxee? Someone should explain to them that they just shot themselves in the foot... Oh, wait! I just did. This is an EXTREMELY short sighted move. As other's have posted here... Take a close look at the music industry. If you don't make it available easily, and really, what could be easier than Boxee, and enjoy the advertising revenue (Which BTW, "limited commercial interruptions are WAY more effective than normal broadcast)... Or, your content will get "shared" in all it's various forms. It's that simple. Boxee is absolutely the best and most full featured media interface available... AND IT'S ALPHA! So all those complaining about it being ugly and clunky, get a freaking clue. It's in its' infancy. It WILL be so much more in the future! So, my message for FOX and NBC is WAKE UP AND LEAVE BOXEE ALONE!!!

Roy Burns · 10 months ago

This announcement comes on the eve of me canceling my satellite bill forever :-(

Hulu was testing the waters to see if streaming ad supported content to computers would work. Networks love the additional revenue, they know people prefer to watch on their tv but if they can't, they will watch online. This was a huge success... which turned out to be a bad thing.

Once the execs caught on to solutions like Boxee which allowed people to watch Hulu content on their TV's they freaked out. Think about it... networks would much rather you watch tv as they get much more ad revenue that way. Until now networks saw Hulu as extra income, now they see Boxee as a thief of their "potential" income. You aren't supposed to watch online content on your TV that's MADNESS?!?!?

Take a look at the clever superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin, sure it's funny but look at what they are insinuating: "Don't watch Hulu... watch TV AND Hulu."

Some might recall the falling out between Apple and NBC a while back. "The Office" was the number 1 selling show on iTunes so NBC wanted to charge more. How much more? They wanted $5 an episode, making an entire season of the show cost well over $100. NBC basically said, charge $5 because the saps will pay for it, or start allowing ad-supported content. Apple, in their control-freakish nature failed to budge... NBC pulled their content and shortly thereafter Hulu was born.

At first the Apple-fanboy in me was hesitant to support this move, but then I came to realize the two methods of serving media did not have to be mutually exclusive. Hulu turned out to be moderately successful, but NBC was still missing out on their download revenue and eventually came back to iTunes... no concessions were made on Apple's part.

And now yet again we can see the greed, and how out of touch the networks can be. I understand capitalism and subsidy, but because the networks are so out of touch with their users they will alienate themselves and lose out on all of the additional income they hoped to make. TV won't die... Hulu won't die, but of all the bonehead moves to do this one tops them all.

Congrats Hulu you may have won the battle, but I assure you, you will lose the war.

Billy Disney · 10 months ago

I submitted this comment to Hulu's blog post on the manner:

"Jason, I give you credit for recognizing how Boxee users would react, and stating that you understand why we would feel that way, but I can't help but think that you're purposely leaving out information on the other side of the equation. You don't need to explain *our* reasoning, you need to explain the reasoning of the content providers. Unless there is a huge chunk of information that you're leaving out, this decision makes absolutely no sense and is not in your best interest at all.

Your responsibility to content providers is to protect their interests and make their use of Hulu as successful for them as possible, not to simply comply with any and all misinformed requests they give you based on irrational concerns. Boxee is a glimpse into the future as far as services that are essential for the growth and success of something like Hulu. If Hulu can't convince content providers to understand the benefit of applications that allow users consume media in the way that they want (not to mention in a social way that freely advertises that content to others), then these users are going to abandon that content for programming from other providers that allow their users to access content in a more ubiquitous manner. If Hulu wants to expand, improve, and thrive, it's essential for you to explain this to content providers instead of simply folding to their demands.

In the end this will just make it harder for me to watch the programming of your content providers, which will only lead to me watching far less of their content to begin with. Watching long-form content in my web browser is impractical because I want to be able to watch that content full screen while still being able to use my computer. Not having Hulu in Boxee leads to me not using Hulu, and not consuming the advertisements that make you and your content providers money. I'm a 20-year-old male, and the last time I checked 18-35-year-olds were part of a pretty important demographic to advertisers. I'm willing to guess a large portion of my fellow Boxee users fall into this category as well.

If you're leaving something out that would make this choice make sense, please be upfront about it. Otherwise, you're crazy."

Timothy Idol · 10 months ago

Wait... Hulu's "content providers" requested they turn off access to Boxee? But, that's FOX and NBC... so they told THEMSELVES to turn off access to Boxee? Someone should explain that they've shot themselves in the foot. Oh wait! I just did!!! As other's have stated here, take a close look at the music industry. If it's not readily available, it's gong to get "shared" in all the various means. My message to FOX and NBC is WAKE UP AND GET A CLUE!!! LEAVE BOXEE ALONE!

dssstrkl · 10 months ago

I only watch Hulu via Boxee. I signed up for Hulu *because* it was supported by Boxee. A web browser is a crap way to watch videos. Boxee allows me to use the 10' interface with my universal remote. No Hulu on Boxee means no more Hulu for me. The Pirate Bay has higher quality, non-streamed, ad-free files anyway.

Roy Burns · 10 months ago

This announcement comes on the eve of me canceling my satellite bill forever :-(

Hulu was testing the waters to see if streaming ad supported content to computers would work. Networks love the additional revenue, they know people prefer to watch on their tv but if they can't, they will watch online. This was a huge success... which turned out to be a bad thing.

Once the execs caught on to solutions like Boxee which allowed people to watch Hulu content on their TV's they freaked out. Think about it... networks would much rather you watch tv as they get much more ad revenue that way. Until now networks saw Hulu as extra income, now they see Boxee as a thief of their "potential" income. You aren't supposed to watch online content on your TV that's MADNESS?!?!?

Take a look at the clever superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin, sure it's funny but look at what they are insinuating: "Don't watch Hulu... watch TV AND Hulu."

Some might recall the falling out between Apple and NBC a while back. "The Office" was the number 1 selling show on iTunes so NBC wanted to charge more. How much more? They wanted $5 an episode, making an entire season of the show cost well over $100. NBC basically said, charge $5 because the saps will pay for it, or start allowing ad-supported content. Apple, in their control-freakish nature failed to budge... NBC pulled their content and shortly thereafter Hulu was born.

At first the Apple-fanboy in me was hesitant to support this move, but then I came to realize the two methods of serving media did not have to be mutually exclusive. Hulu turned out to be moderately successful, but NBC was still missing out on their download revenue and eventually came back to iTunes... no concessions were made on Apple's part.

And now yet again we can see the greed, and how out of touch the networks can be. I understand capitalism and subsidy, but because the networks are so out of touch with their users they will alienate themselves and lose out on all of the additional income they hoped to make. TV won't die... Hulu won't die, but of all the bonehead moves to do this one tops them all.

Congrats Hulu you may have won the battle, but I assure you, you will lose the war.

Timothy Idol · 10 months ago

Wait... Hulu's "content providers" requested they turn off access to Boxee? But, that's FOX and NBC... so they told THEMSELVES to turn off access to Boxee? Someone should explain that they've shot themselves in the foot. Oh wait! I just did!!! As other's have stated here, take a close look at the music industry. If it's not readily available, it's gong to get "shared" in all the various means. My message to FOX and NBC is WAKE UP AND GET A CLUE!!! LEAVE BOXEE ALONE!

Beau · 10 months ago

Avner,

First off I feel for you man. I realize Hulu adoption has led to a groundswell of interest in Boxee, to have that cut now just as things are just heating up has to be pretty distressing.

That said i want to throw out another perspective, what I would imagine the content providers are coming from.

I could be totally wrong on this, but I'm going to throw out some big assumptions. You may want to research these assumptions further, it may help you craft a stronger case.

1) Most pirated content is watched on a computer
2) Most people who pirate content still have cable.
3) Set top boxes that promise to reduce the need for cable are having people consider axing #1 + #2 in droves.
4) The content providers provide content to Hulu to thwart #1, to the degree that they actually skim some money.
5) RE #4, the revenue made here still pales in comparison to what's made during normal broadcasts. Sorta like iTunes.

brandall10 · 10 months ago

Sorry about the numerous reposts, kept in getting internal server errors, lol.

Beau · 10 months ago

Avner,

First off I feel for you man. I realize Hulu adoption has led to a groundswell of interest in Boxee, to have that cut now just as things are just heating up has to be pretty distressing.

That said i want to throw out another perspective, what I would imagine the content providers are coming from.

I could be totally wrong on this, but I'm going to throw out some big assumptions. You may want to research these assumptions further, it may help you craft a stronger case.

1) Most pirated content is watched on a computer
2) Most people who pirate content still have cable.
3) Set top boxes that promise to reduce the need for cable are having people consider axing #1 + #2 in droves.
4) The content providers provide content to Hulu to thwart #1, to the degree that they actually skim some money.
5) RE #4, the revenue made here still pales in comparison to what's made during normal broadcasts. Sorta like iTunes.

andrew · 10 months ago

BOXEE NEEDS TO SHOW THEM SOME MONEY!

brandall10 · 10 months ago

Avner,

First off I feel for you man. I realize Hulu adoption has led to a groundswell of interest in Boxee, to have that cut now just as things are just heating up has to be pretty distressing.

That said i want to throw out another perspective, what I would imagine the content providers are coming from.

I could be totally wrong on this, but I'm going to throw out some big assumptions. You may want to research these assumptions further, it may help you craft a stronger case.

1) Most pirated content is watched on a computer
2) Most people who pirate content still have cable.
3) Set top boxes that promise to reduce the need for cable are having people consider axing #1 + #2 in droves.
4) The content providers provide content to Hulu to thwart #1, to the degree that they actually skim some money.
5) RE #4, the revenue made here still pales in comparison to what's made during normal broadcasts. Sorta like iTunes. This is wresting more control than they're willing to give up.

brandall10 · 10 months ago

Avner,

First off I feel for you man. I realize Hulu adoption has led to a groundswell of interest in Boxee, to have that cut now just as things are just heating up has to be pretty distressing.

That said i want to throw out another perspective, what I would imagine the content providers are coming from.

I could be totally wrong on this, but I'm going to throw out some big assumptions. You may want to research these assumptions further, it may help you craft a stronger case.

1) Most pirated content is watched on a computer
2) Most people who pirate content still have cable.
3) Set top boxes that promise to reduce the need for cable are having people consider axing #1 + #2 in droves.
4) The content providers provide content to Hulu to thwart #1, to the degree that they actually skim some money.
5) RE #4, the revenue made here still pales in comparison to what's made during normal broadcasts. Sorta like iTunes. This is wresting more control than they're willing to give up.

Tom P · 10 months ago

Setup every boxee instance you have (ATV, XBMC, PC/Mac) between now and friday to play hulu content as much as possible. Don't watch it necessarily, but generate the traffic. Run a movie when you go to sleep and one before you leave in the morning. Boxee will have stats on this traffic and hopefully it can help present the case for Hulu/Boxee once the traffic drops after Friday.

Joshua · 10 months ago

I'm relatively new to boxee, and i've fallen in love. It saddening that you guys are getting singled out by hulu's providers - essentially because, when it comes down to it, your product is too good, too compelling, i.e too scary of a rapid paradigm shift / tipping point for big media to contemplate and control.

I like hulu a lot and will absolutely continue using boxee, and hope that this great pairing comes back together.

fritz · 10 months ago

I stopped all subscription TV five years ago and started using less than legal means to obtain shows that I couldn't view anymore or to watch the major networks at my convenience. Hulu, for the most part, eliminated myneed for torrents, excepting media available only in the UK. Boxee has made viewing on my TV an even easier process.

Unfortunately, since Boxee is the interface I now use to watch all online content (rev3, twit.live, etc...), Hulu will be losing me as a viewer. I understand why Hulu made their choice and applaud their honesty, but if content providers refuse to understand that viewing via Boxee is no different than viewing via Firefox, I will take my viewing habit elsewhere. An ad-free, no revenue for the content provider, elsewhere.

Joe Pemberton · 10 months ago

Avner, I've written a response on my user experience blog, Idlemode. My chief argument is that the real opportunity is for Hulu to bring advertising revenue back to the large screen TV experience in ways that they can't with broadcast and subscription TV modes. Hulu has to achieve this via third-party apps like Boxee and platforms like Xbox, PS3 or others.

The future of TV is the internet. It's not broadcast. And by keeping a broadcast-centric mindset they will only miss opportunities to monetize and stay relevant.

Read my thoughts at Idlemode: http://idlemode.com/2009/02/18/hulu-plus-boxee/

Scott · 10 months ago

Just saved me a couple hundred bucks... I was this close || to buying an AppleTV to use with the Boxee-Hulu combination. Guess I won't have to give up my lattes after all - score 1 for Starbucks, 0 for short-sighted content providers.

anon · 10 months ago

whats the big deal?...get a wireless keyboard/mouse and hook the desktop to your TV...
you can see hulu,netflix ..anything you want..

Canisreevus · 10 months ago

Boxee provides a user friendly interface (i.e. everything that you want to click and view is BIGGER) that works from across the room.

Canisreevus · 10 months ago

Double Post Removed

Andres Lucero · 10 months ago

Also? Not every device running Boxee is a computer.