Hulu asks Boxee to pull content, it complies

That was short lived -- it hasn't been six months since Boxee added one of its most popular features yet and now Hulu is putting a stop to it. A real reason wasn't given -- big surprise -- but Hulu is saying it was at the request of the content providers. While no one really knows what Fox and NBC's objections are to Boxee, we're sad to say it actually kinda makes sense to us. Both media giants make most of their money from traditional cable and broadcast TV, and offering this content on your TV in a convenient way threatens the current model (read money) -- you can't say you haven't thought about getting Hulu on your TV so you could cancel cable. The real bad news is that we'd bet that this is just the beginning, and that every STB out there with Hulu will follow. Of course some of them won't comply, but either way it puts them in a bad situation. Hopefully this won't another trend and that the likes of ABC, CBS and Netflix don't follow.

[Via Boxee Blog]

[John @ Feb 18th 2009 7:04PM]

Just because you can understand why they might not want people to do it doesn't mean there's a compelling reason for them to comply.

[Fred @ Feb 18th 2009 7:50PM]

Exactly! I don't see why Boxee doesn't just pose as another browser, like WebKit or Firefox, to get at the data it needs for listings, and then just jumps the flash object to full-screen for you. I could imagine Firefox Add-Ons or Webmonkey scripts that do the same thing. Hulu is a public INTERNET site, and thus has no real control of the client you choose to navigate it with.

Why is this about the TV? I'm reading Engadget on my "TV" right now, because I use it as a monitor. Most TVs sold today have VGA, DVI-D, and/or HDMI support, and most PCs have one or many of those 3 output types, so why is there any distinction anymore?

[hexydes @ Feb 18th 2009 10:17PM]

@Fred: Because the entertainment industry is a decade behind technology, and they just don't get it. In another five years, they're going to start looking into this "Twitter" thing, to see if there is any traction there. Oh, and they've heard that people are using these phones that work anywhere, and can even do things like play video, so in a year or two, they might start exploring those as well.

[rv @ Feb 18th 2009 10:46PM]

You can still get that onto your tv in many other ways, in 720p!
ie TPB

[kieran @ Feb 19th 2009 11:51AM]

@Fred: The key part of the streams from hulu that Boxee and XBMC needed to play them is the PID. Hulu has now encrypted the PID, so Boxee and XBMC can no longer find the streams to play them. So, boxee had no choice, really. XBMC users will notice that their plugin still *runs* and shows you the list of shows available (list is not encrypted) but when you select a show or clip to watch, nothing happens.

The plugin for XBMC was not developed by the XBMC dev group, but by an individual. Whereas the boxee app was developed by Boxee, so they probably disabled the whole app just to play nice w/ Hulu for now.

Time to get a DTVPal DVR... http://www.dtvpal.com/

[OneLove @ Feb 19th 2009 12:39PM]

Someone tell HULU and others not to put static logos up on web video content. I have a plasma damn it!

[OneLove @ Feb 19th 2009 12:43PM]

I for one cant wait till I get all my cable channels via internet. FUck you ComCast!

[ChrisS @ Feb 18th 2009 7:06PM]

I wonder if this has anything to with why I can't use Hulu on XBMC anymore via the Hulu Plugin?

[AJ in the East Bay @ Feb 18th 2009 7:16PM]

Interesting. When was the last time you tried it? I'll probably try it later today.

[shanoboy @ Feb 19th 2009 9:13AM]

Holy Crap! There's a Hulu plugin for XBMC? I've just been downloading my shows of bittorrent. I've got to give it a shot, though its probably dead by now.

Boxee is based of XBMC base source code isn't it? Might be why the plugin went dark, if it indeed did.

[Ivan @ Feb 18th 2009 7:08PM]

Okay HI!
My name is boxxy!!!! AND I IS NOT TROLLIN!!!!!

[Raptor007 @ Feb 18th 2009 7:45PM]

Haha yeah, I read that as "Boxxy" too.

[El Taco @ Feb 18th 2009 11:54PM]

lol me too

[G @ Feb 19th 2009 11:22AM]

What's "Boxee" anyway? Did they spell Boxxy wrong?

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 18th 2009 7:09PM]

So, Hulu on my TV is doomed to live a life in the shadows like VLC or XBMC?

It seems to me like the Hulu people are pretty smart in general. It sucks to see an apparently stupid move like this.

[hexydes @ Feb 18th 2009 10:20PM]

To be fair, it isn't "Hulu", per se. Hulu is the child-company of the Fox/NBC joint venture. I'm sure the actual employees at Hulu, who sit and watch how popular their service is, think this movie is exactly what it is: idiocy forced on by the bean counters. Unfortunately, the bean counters have a lot of say, and are probably making a lot of the decisions for both Fox and NBC.

[00ガンダム @ Feb 18th 2009 7:09PM]

Who knew Hulu would do this, you?

[Tubes @ Feb 18th 2009 7:33PM]

Do what? Ask Boxee nicely not to put their shows on their system so that Hulu's content providers won't get annoyed and pull their shows from the site?

As much as it sucks, I'd do the same thing if I were Hulu. Not being able to legally watch my shows on your TV via Hulu is bad, sure. But not even being able to watch it on Hulu on my computer is much much worse.

[obo @ Feb 19th 2009 6:34AM]

WHOOOOOSH

[Randomness @ Feb 18th 2009 7:12PM]

I thought hulu was legal and they still make their money for the content providers through the ads. What's the problem? It's either that or people will go back to downloading the eps for free without the ads.

[jeremy @ Feb 18th 2009 9:04PM]

Pressure from content providers is definitely a red herring. Hulu is owned by it's biggest content providers.

[nels266 @ Feb 18th 2009 11:34PM]

The ironic part is I actually WATCH the ads through boxee, if it were regular TV I'd be flipping around to find something without commercials on and they'd risk losing my eyes. Foolish

[petecomments @ Feb 18th 2009 7:13PM]

Freely accessible advertising-support content like Hulu on the TV is inevitable - why constrain it to the PC?

Yet another example of how backwards-minded the big video content providers are (just like with audio, originally).

[dagamer34 @ Feb 18th 2009 7:59PM]

Because they want you to catch up on a few episodes then return back to watching TV instead of seeing online viewership as a new medium. Basically, Hulu.com is a prop to get everyone back to watching TV on a TV from a cable/satellite company again.

[acme @ Feb 18th 2009 9:39PM]

Honestly i don't see the difference between hulu and tv...they both have commercials interrupting your shows. wtf is the problem?

[hexydes @ Feb 18th 2009 10:21PM]

@dagamer34: Wow. Nailed that one on the head. The media industry is so out of touch with reality that it is absolutely sickening.

[matt @ Feb 18th 2009 7:14PM]

Driving people back towards pirating content. It's almost as if they *want* you to steal it.

[Koui @ Feb 18th 2009 7:15PM]

ATI is OKI DOKI

[Brian @ Feb 18th 2009 7:22PM]

guess i wont be updating boxee anytime soon...

[Dorv @ Feb 18th 2009 7:28PM]

Pretty sure those plugins (?) are linked live, so updating/not updating will still result in loss of Hulu.

This blows.

[Bryan @ Feb 18th 2009 7:27PM]

Hulu is legal- it's owned by NBC. Read the 'about me' page.

However, I suspect, NBC/Universal wants to control all aspects of the way Hulu content is displayed. Maybe they don't want it displayed on TV's because they don't think most people will spend all day in front of the TV cause they canceled cable or satelite services.
There is an easy workaround. Hook your computer to your TV and enjoy. I'm saving $50 a month without the cable bill. Oh, and I only have to watch 30 second commercials 3x an episode. Not 3 minute breaks ever ten minutes.

[Dorv @ Feb 18th 2009 7:29PM]

But the point was it was so much nicer to view the content through the Boxee front end rather than busting out a wireless keyboard/mouse and using the browser.

[John @ Feb 18th 2009 7:42PM]

you could conceivably write your own frontend and get an IR receiver for your PC, though that does sound a little insane.

[Dorv @ Feb 18th 2009 7:52PM]

Yes, I could.

If I was a programmer.

Unfortunately, I'm a water park manager, so my lifeguarding ability isn't going to help much :)

[Maeztro @ Feb 18th 2009 9:05PM]

Try a popcorn hour + playon. Works perfect for me.

[Sofunnytom @ Feb 18th 2009 7:26PM]

You can already watch ABC shows on their website in HD for free..... Always have been.

[0Armada @ Feb 18th 2009 7:30PM]

Huh...I thought the advertisements still played through Boxee. Unless that's not true, there's no "losing money" letting STBs like Boxee use Hulu. They are, however, now losing money because they're losing viewers.

[Tubes @ Feb 18th 2009 7:46PM]

Your logic makes sense. However, Hollywood's logic does not.

I'm sure Hulu doesn't really care if you watched their shows on Boxee so long as the ads remain in place. However, the content owners had this little thing called the Writer's Guild strike last year and they're in the midst of a possible Actor's Guild strike as I write this. Both of those strikes are about internet distribution. One thing to note: If you connect Hulu to your TV, there's a chance that you are watching the show FIRST on Hulu - not on television, where studios make most of their money. (Yes, a lot of us already watch shows first on Hulu, but remember, Hollywood's logic isn't making sense here. Your logic is!) If the actors and writers can prove that a large majority of people are watching the shows FIRST on the internet, then they will want larger royalties. This was the explanation of Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, during the Writer's Strike.

In terms of TV.com, I agree that it sucks that TV.com (CBS) had to pull the Hulu-distributed shows, but it also sucks that CBS wouldn't allow Hulu to distribute new CBS shows in the first place. So, CBS was trying to build a massive library using Hulu-distributed content while restricting Hulu from doing the same with CBS content. Seems like it's TV.com who is more wrong here, IMO.

[John @ Feb 18th 2009 7:57PM]

Just as a quick aside, it boggles the mind that allegedly skilled professions, writing and acting, require unions to protect their members.

[BreakingPoint0 @ Feb 18th 2009 11:40PM]

@John

Haha yeah that's a good point. Unfortunately the Guilds are required in both of those professions now-a-days. From what I understand most stuidios won't take you seriously if you aren't part of the Guild, and you won't be paid as well as those in the Guild. Someone in either of the Guilds correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I've read.

[chaos123x @ Feb 18th 2009 7:30PM]

That just sucks.

That was the reason I liked Hulu.

I am sure I can get the content from more nefarious sources now.

[Trdueweke @ Feb 18th 2009 8:04PM]

fuck...my...life

[Mike @ Feb 18th 2009 7:36PM]

I wonder how this will effect the SageTV Hulu product.

[arik @ Feb 18th 2009 7:37PM]

I don't even own a stand alone dvd player... I just have a computer attached to my 42in LCD TV and I watch my Netflix, Hulu, DVDs (best up convert I have seen), or what ever else I want right there.... boxee is just a specialized computer,.. ie restricted. if they really want to do real damage they need to stop people Hulu and other websites like it. But I also do have cable... h*te comc*st... want u-verse...

[krische @ Feb 18th 2009 7:39PM]

well, I guess its back to bittorent rss feeds. Boxee still works great for that. Just have it watch a folder where all your shows download.

[Rob @ Feb 18th 2009 7:43PM]

Anyone else having the same problem on XBMC? I find the links to the shows, but when it comes to playing them, it returns to the same list of episodes. It did work last week. I've tried "Recently Added" and shows by category, and nothin.

[Pablo @ Feb 19th 2009 1:51AM]

Yes, no Hulu love on my XBMC

[Paul S. @ Feb 18th 2009 7:44PM]

Uhm... I could still cancel my cable and get NBC and FOX... they're broadcast stations, not cable.

Still, it's too bad they forced boxee to remove Hulu service from the app, it was a very convenient way to use Hulu on my computer (don't have an Apple TV).

[Bryan @ Feb 18th 2009 8:02PM]

The Daily Show however is a cable program. And one of the handful of shows I'd watch if I had cable.

[Rob @ Feb 18th 2009 7:47PM]

Hulu meet Facebook. Now get ready for the heat from dissatisfied customers.