Boxee, the powerful software package that can convert computers, Apple TVs and other popular products into media centers, has just been kneecapped by major studio content owners. One of the product’s most popular features since its implementation last October has been the ability to watch Hulu’s entire catalog for free, on your TV. Today, Boxee has announced that Hulu will no longer be supported.
From the Boxee post:
two weeks ago Hulu called and told us their content partners were asking them to remove Hulu from boxee. we tried (many times) to plead the case for keeping Hulu on boxee, but on Friday of this week, in good faith, we will be removing it. you can see their blog post about the issues they are facing.
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has written a post on the Hulu blog detailing why the content had to be pulled:
Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes. While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence — bumps and all — we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners. Without their content, none of what Hulu does would be possible, including providing you content via Hulu.com and our many distribution partner websites.
In essence, because Hulu is totally reliant on content owners for its content, it has to bend to their demands – however draconian they may be.
So what’s the motivation here? It’s likely that the content owners are objecting to the fact that Boxee makes it easy for users to watch Hulu on their TVs. While there are other ways to do this (for example, using a PS3 or hooking up a laptop), Boxee makes the experience much more intuitive, and gives users less of a reason to use cable or buy shows through iTunes and other content stores.
This is ridiculous anti-trust material.
Content-Owners:
Hey Hulu!, We’re on a mission to not make any money on our content, we don’t want more viewers online, we want them to pirate our stuff, we’ll give you our content to make it unavailable, we’ll keep asking you to remove the older seasons, because that for sure is going to make the viewers buy our series on DVD instead of using bittorrent to download. I mean, downloading a torrent is probably harder than hacking an Apple TV, putting linux on it and running boxee, there’s something wrong about boxee, we don’t own it, maybe that’s what it is
effing big media, u’re totally going to die if you don’t adapt
old media must die
Reminds me of this classic TC/Hulu entry… http://www.tech...i-oh-the-irony/
Funny how things like this really give you a view into the emotional “person” of a company. Adolescent with important parents, insecure, doesn’t play well with others.
That said, it’s their right. But as we all know, it’s grow up or get beat up (the nerds find a way to work together.)
Brilliant. Hey Hulu, this isn’t how you’re supposed to fill all those unsold ad slots which are now just PSAs.
More eyeballs are good you nervous little poodles…
It’s an emotional response, not a response based on market forces or economic sense, which happens quite often. Remember folks, we are talking about and infinitely and perfectly duplicated media file that has almost zero distribution cost, this is an opportunity to build ubiquity, not a loss of inventory.
It’s time to kill my Hulu account and boycott the clueless old media content providers.
torrents imo
And this is why people will still want to own their own content in the end. Why become reliant on a service that they can pull out of at any time? Sounds like they just are going to drive you back to torrents. There is always the slim chance that Hulu will come out with it’s own set top box but I will miss my Hulu + AppleTV combo.
Give us the names of the content owners that bitched so that we can bad mouth their content on our blogs and call for boycotts of their shows.
See big media… works both ways. You should really learn to work with new tech. like Boxee.
oh my god….
robert.. thanks for the laugh… i took a look at your blog.. yeah.. i can see why the big boys would be scared of you blogging about them!!!!!
lawd…
keep up the humour…
peace!
easy:
Fox and NBC got pissed.
The next big shift in peer to peer tech will be from torrents to streaming in one way or another. There a huge opertunity to avoid losing control over the content and steer clear of a Napster-like scenario this time around. The content must look towards them selves and make their content available.
I live in Sweden. No Hulu, no tv-shows on iTunes. Why? Because the content providers get juicy deals when they sell their shows to networks abroad. Here’s an idea: Make your content available globally simultanously via iTunes or Hulu or hey…why not cut out the middle man and provide it yourself. Rewrite the international network deals. It’s been a nice model but it’s insane to hang on to it!
ola…
and just how much cash/dollars/pesos/yuan/etc… are you really ready to pay to watch the damn content…
that’s what i thought.. 0!!!
so you basically want quality content for free…
go watch the grass grow…
you guys never get it… content costs something. the guys who own it,or have rights to it.. get to do whatever they legally can. if you don’t like it.. nothings stopping you from writing a script.. finding some people.. producing your own content… good luck with that..
peace
Whoa! Read the post again. Where did i say that i wasn’t willing to pay? The problem is i CAN’T pay since Hulu and tv-shows and movies in iTunes are not available in my country.
ola…
not really meant as a slam to you personally. i’m pretty well convinced that if hulu/content providers could provide you with content that you’d pay for, and be reasonably assured that you wouldn’t give it to 10,000 of your closest friends, they’d gladly offer youthe chance to pay for it…
peace
Take your fat head out of your ass and be mildly realistic. Hulu was the best anti-piracy measure any industry has released, EVER. No matter what DRM you put on your digital content it will be stripped and redistributed, period. No matter what encryption you use on DVDs/BluRays it will be stripped and redistributed, period. The only way to prevent people from simply stealing your content is to offer it to them “free” (not including advertisements) and allow them to watch it on their terms. In this way you can still make a buck off the person and they still get their “free” content, because they are going to get their free content regardless of what you do. And people do not want to pay a couple bucks to watch a TV show or movie once, sorry. You want to bring the pirates out of their holes you need to promote services like hulu/boxee!
Sorry if you disagree, but if you can’t see this, and more importantly the industry cannot see it, then you will not make as much money as you could have. You will still make money off normal TV programming, but failing to exploit the massive market of on-demand content will prevent some serious growth potential from ever materializing.
Jim
Dear Old Media,
I suggest that you should also ask the airports, banks, hospitals, etc, to take down their televisions that are showing your “contents” free to these people who should be paying you to watch your precious investment.
Keep doing whatever you’re doing. Don’t ever change.
Sincerely,
Sar Kasem
sar…
in case you hadn’t noticed.. most of those sets have cable.. the larger hospitals/public places have licensing deals to show the content…
and to rip off a great old show from my youth…
sar.. you ignorant slut!!!
peace
Sam,
Don’t ever change.
You are beautiful, just the way you are, as the old song goes.
One more thing, Sam,
I need to congratulate you on doing such a wonderful job of defending Old Media.
You’ve been a frequent commenter in this space, using your very colorful and exceptionally educated language to represent your client, the Old Media.
I hope they give you a big bonus soon.
naw.. no client….
it’s just that i think that the owner of the content gets to decide what to do with it, and how to do it… if you want to give it away.. go for it.. if you want to charge .. go for it as well…
i don’t want the customer to be able to steal it, simply because he/she wants to …
i’m defending your right to do what you will with your content… whether it’s software, music, video, art, books, whatever..
peace…
They’ve been giving it away for almost 60 years, longer if you include radio.
I stand behind my call on Hulu circa 12/18/07
“old media stuck in a digital world”: http://is.gd/k2oQ
le sigh.
I don’t have Boxee, I have a Media Center PC that sits in my living room. I get over-the-air digital that I record and watch the bulk of my shows through hulu on a 36in HDTV, full screen. It’s the closest thing to IPTV I can think of and IMHO exactly how we should have the content delivered. Why wouldn’t the content providers want their content everywhere on every device? They should know by now, swimming against the tide just makes you tired.
This is exactly the type of shortsightedness that brought down the music industry and spurred development of torrent and streaming audio providers like LastFM and Pandora. When the content providers try to close down convenient avenues for accessing content, someone will figure out a why to get around it. When will it get through their heads that people want convenience and freedom of access?
Fine, so they want to close off the Hulu spigot? Expect boxee and other developers to boost development on the torrent side and work on next-generation technologies for delivering content while going around content provider portals like Hulu. Congrats, by closing off Hulu to boxee you’ve cut off a growing source of revenue and planted the seed of your own destruction.
FUCK. I just bought an Apple TV for this express purpose.
I was actually close to doing the same thing myself.
Me too. Was planning to buy ATV and run Boxee on it. So much for that plan
damn. I just ordered my appletv at http://www.boxeeonappletv.com .
there’s some other stuff other than hulu there.
right (cbs, comedy central, mtv) ?
Same here, got mine for christmas this past year and I JUST got Boxee/Hulu working properly. Wasn’t hard, but earlier Hulu play back sucked, them I messed up my boxee install and just got around to fixing it all last week and hulu was working perfect…
But yes, boxee does have other online media it can access. Also I just read about a program (forgot the name) that will put hulu in frontrow (on the mac) which could be ported over to AppleTV (which is just a slimed down mac).
You can always install a full blown version of OSX on your AppleTV and use boxee via a web browser. Less than ideal but it would work…
Jim
That sucks. I use Boxee and really like it. Now I have to spend more time on Hulu’s site.
Looks like Boxee is going to have an uphill battle. Hopefully, they figure something out.
I doubt “It’s likely that the content owners are objecting to the fact that Boxee makes it easy for users to watch Hulu on their TVs” is the reason the content providers are pulling their content from Boxee.
Let’s be honest, Boxee is a fork of XBMC and the primary function of both is to make in incredibly easy for you to watch a massive library of pirated and/or backed up television shows and movies. Yeah Boxee adds a ton of social features and streaming video options, but at its core it’s about watching video in a format the media giants can’t profit from.
Ian Hamilton,
I’m not sure if you used boxee but when watching hulu or joost, you also watched all the ads that are put there by these “content providers”, but when suddenly hundreds of people started dropping cable and just using their boxee to watch their shows, this is when the content providers got scared. that’s at least my 2 cents
“Hundreds of people” doesn’t register or mean a thing to big content providers. Hundreds of thousands and millions do. Boxee didn’t have distribution that could be measured in either. It also didn’t have much that could add to Hulu’s ad revenue whereas other platforms like the Xbox do. Bigger reach and an audience that can be segmented via all the Xbox Live data. My money’s on Hulu being on the Xbox some time in the not too distant future.
I tried using Boxee but went to XBMC because it seemed a little glitchy still.
I understand Hulu shows ads when playing on Boxee. But streaming Hulu is just a bonus to a platform meant for handling a massive collection of DVD Rips or Torrented material (stuff the media companies loath).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a set top box for Hulu, but I think they’re worried they’re losing millions by indirectly supporting Boxee’s other features.
I did cancel my cable tv today for this very reason. I’m not resubscribing though.. they can lick my ass.
Well just connect a Mac Mini to a LCD TV; have Firefox and a wireless mouse as a remote (http://techavid.com) . With Firefox you can motion down to enlarge text and enjoy the full web from your recliner!
Seems like they are leaving money on the table, why would you want LESS ad impressions!??!?!
Jason,
Hulus’ content is not “free” on Boxee the ads still appear just as if you were on Hulu.com. Boxee just supplied the equivalent of a browser for media so I can use my TV like it should be used-with a remote to view web content.
“It’s likely that the content owners are objecting to the fact that Boxee makes it easy for users to watch Hulu on their TVs.”
Yes stop making things easy for us content owners! Where’s that Bittorrent client…
Another great example of “actually useful” technology dying while silly apps that tweet your position to already tweeted followers (fill in with more useless verbs these nonsensical app companies do), thrive and get funding.
How they hell they cannot derive a common business model that makes everyone some profit with a product like boxee, is completely unacceptable.
This is really disappointing. So I suppose it’s time to go back to tvrss
I use MediaMall Playon. It plays Hulu on your HD TV just fine.
http://www.them...all.com/playon/
Who the hell cares about Boxee.
This Playon software requires your PC be turned on. Boxee runs directly on your media player (Apple TV) that’s connected to the TV.
Essentially you’re using 50 watts (Apple TV) versus 200-600 watts (PC+game console) for a playback device.
I’m looking forward towards the Asus B204 as it provides true 1080p playback.
I think it has more to do with them wanting to roll it out officially on the Xbox first. I’ve actually spoken with their reps before and the Xbox was one of the things they mentioned a few times when talking about theoretical future distribution channels. Makes sense too. An audience of millions instead of thousands (much more attractive to advertisers.) And an audience with more info about it due to Xbox Live which can in turn be targeted and segmented by advertisers.
horrible decision by hulu. i decided to go with boxee, so i’ll just watch all the shows available there including cbs (netflix) and abc and not watch hulu shows.
just like people read what’s free and easily available online, people will watch content they can easily access. and boxee is the epitome of easy.
This is why I do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV. Until these asscracks get their shit together, I am going to continue to get my media fix from other sources. People so desperately want an a la carte style media service. But, the media house want to continue to squeeze us all for more money with their old model. It simply does not work anymore. They need to adjust.
Well then BitTorrent it is….I would have been happy to watch commercials for on internet on-demand via Hulu on my TV, but if the studios don’t give us content in the format + way we want it, we will continue to pirate…..
That is exactly how I feel too Michael. Hulu has a tolerable amount of commercials. Any more and it is just too much. It is too bad these media house don’t get it. They are really shooting themselves in the foot.
Here’s an image I made of the Boxee logo with a black eye in case you want to use it in the post – http://www.flic...uss/3291277701/. It was kinda too easy to resist
Does anyone else think it’s really the cable companies that are pushing this? They’re the people currently distributing BSG to millions of TVs.
Boxee is a serious threat to that delivery model. Boxee is a quantum leap in making it easy to watch internet TV on your actual TV.
AppleTV+Boxee+DSL+Hulu/CBS.com makes Time Warner and Comcast totally irrelevant.
damnit! this really sucks! i was just about to buy a mac mini or apple tv next month for this exact purpose.
wonder if there’s a way to hack boxee to have appear as a firefox client or something to Hulu.
i love boxee, but this is definitely a major deterrent to investing in the setup.
fuck.
theirs always other sites :X but hulu’s quality on boxee was great!
Just realized something…
Boxee is open source, right? Say yes.
Boxee users want to watch Hulu content, right? Say yes.
So what happens when an open source application doesn’t do something that the users want it to do? Someone jumps in and makes it happen!
My guess is that within 2 months there will be a work around for Boxee that officially “has nothing to do with Hulu” but allows users to view content from Hulu on Boxee.
Try 2 days: it’s already in XBMC’s SVN.
Hulu only exists so content providers control distribution… so why is TC parroting the lie about Hulu being forced into this action? They are literally owned by the content providers, and were given marching orders.
(Doesn’t anyone read Chomsky anymore?)
DoJ/FCC needs to step in here, there’s no reason Hulu should block what is essentially an OS from accessing content. This is straight forward anti-trust materia: anti-competitive and consumer harmful.
What exactly is the difference between this and using a “normal” computer to watch Hulu? Only the OS.
now if only they can release a version that works on Windows….
Interesting – looks like Hulu pulled from TV.com, too.
http://www.pcwo...vcom_boxee.html.
After reading this yesterday, something’s afoot:
http://adage.co...ticle_id=134671
It’s panic time. Or positioning time, depending on who you ask.
This is all about the cable companies losing more subscribers as a great new crop of services such as Boxee make it easier to watch web-based TV on TV sets. The cable co. execs made a few calls to NBC/Fox to tell Hulu to tell Boxee to take Hulu out. Its just the simple, and just that complicated.
More thoughts here: http://www.tech...ulu-boxee-saga/
some expert probably showed big media how they’re losing money so they pulled it.
really, why the hell doesn’t big media just torrent their stuff? in HD? throw in an ad or two (preferably at the end) or rotate logos in the bug. jeez.
Bad move for Hulu… {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/gaBtsjnXR9_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Bad move for Hulu… ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/T3RRY0aGSJ”}}}
has anyone else noticed that the ps3 browser stream of hulu isn’t as good as the playon stream? it seems there are buffering issues with the ps3 browser/hulu. or maybe it’s just my setup.
Not a boxee owner, but was planning on installing it this weekend for just this purpose.
Out of curiosity, how does the removal process work? Are the boxee devs just going to release a version with the hulu code removed? And if so, can’t we just keep using an old version? Boxee is open-source, so it’d be possible for devs to just download the new source code, and merge in working hulu code from older versions, right?
This is a huge disappointment for users and the media community. Hulu was one of the shining beacons of hope that old media giants were finally beginning to embrace the demands of users. Now they’re arbitrarily blocking users because of the browser they choose to use to view Hulu content? After all, Boxee is really just an alternative web browser that happens to work well from a remote control. A Boxee user is far more likely to go back to torrents than they are to switch back to live TV or even a DVR. So Fox and NBC are just shooting themselves in the foot with this move–alienating viewers and losing precious ad impressions.
Well that sucks. I loved watching hulu through boxee on the hdtv.
Doesn’t this come back to Jeff Zucker’s “analog dollars for digital dimes” statement a year (or so) back? While this disappoints the consumer in me (I signed up for Boxee the day the Hulu integration was announced), I can see the business case. Boxee makes it too easy for the consumer to substitute away from broadcast/cable consumption of TV in favor of broadband consumption. Empower the consumer with a remote control and watch your “analog dollars” (yes we know TV’s almost all digital now) shift to “digital dimes,” cannibalizing your cash cow for a pet project.
The real question that needs to be asked is not, “Why did Hulu shut down Boxee distribution?” but “What is Hulu’s strategy?” If we ask the latter question, then perhaps their rationale surfaces. My guess is that Hulu’s strategy is to build a computer user experience *for the consumer* that 1) minimizes piracy and 2) introduces broadcasters to online distribution while generating (modest) revenue. And, again, once you insert a remote control into the equation, you threaten your bread-and-butter: the living room consumer. Personal anecdote: last week my TiVo remote was going a little wonky and I didn’t want to sit through 20 minutes of commercials during 24; solution: forgo the HD on TiVo, watch on Hulu (via Boxee) in favor of 2-3 minutes of commercials.
So, does the Boxee consumer in me hate this? Absolutely. But does the media strategist in me understand? Absolutely. Will TV execs need to figure out how to supplement those “digital dimes” quickly? Absolutely. In the meantime, just don’t expect them to support efforts that significantly threaten their old way of doing business.
Michael, nicely said… I can see it both ways.
That sucks. I use Boxee and really like it. Now I have to spend more time on Hulu’s site.
Looks like Boxee is going to have an uphill battle. Hopefully, they figure something out.