Hulu and Boxee No Longer Playing Together

[Cody Overcash]

We love Boxee. We think that their iPhone remote app on Cydia is really cool. We think their software/service is awesome. We think Boxee was great for for watching some Hulu. Unfortunately Hulu doesn't seen to agree with the awesomeness. While Hulu captivated us with its really great Super Bowl commercial and then captivated us further when we realized it was Boxee compatibility we are not captivated by Hulu's statements of why they are removing themselves from Boxee.

Quotes from Hulu CEO Jason Kilar's Blog:

"Later this week, Hulu's content will no longer be available through Boxee."
- That sucks.

"Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes."
- Uh bs. Your content providers are Fox and NBC. They own you. They aren't cutting things off -- well they are but aren't you they?

"Our mission to make media dramatically easier and more user-focused has not changed and will not change. We will not stop until we achieve it and we are sober in our assessment that we have such a long way to go."
- But Boxee made your media dramatically easier and more user-focused

"The maddening part of writing this blog entry is that we realize that there is no immediate win here for users."
- That at least is correct.

"For those Boxee users reading this post, we understand and appreciate that you're likely to tell us that we're nuts. Please know that we do share the same interests and won't stop innovating in support of the bigger mission."
- You are nuts. Our interests = having Hulu on Boxee.

And from Boxee Cheif Executive Avner Ronen's blog:

“Our goal has always been to drive users to legal sources of content that are publicly available on the Internet ... We have many content partners who are generating revenue from Boxee users and we will work with Hulu and their partners to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”
- You sir rock. We hope for your success!

[lom51]

Basically, it's a case of "No we are not giving away our content for free, if you want it you will have to pay for it"

[Cody Overcash]

Basically, it's a case of "No we are not giving away our content for free, if you want it you will have to pay for it"

except the whole premise of hulu is giving their content away for free
Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free.

[JStraitiff]

^^^^ haha

does rejection hurt?

[sziklassy]

I am thinking it is more a name thing. When you use boxee to watch Hulu you are still using boxee, not Hulu (well i guess technically you are using both). I suspect that if they see a huge drop in viewers, Hulu will probably just make their own free appstore app. hell, maybe they are already working on one.

[zman69]

I wasn't happy when i heard about this yesterday. I watch HULU everyday on boxee through my Apple Tv.

[designgears]

boxee is just a modded version xbmc, pretty easy to re-enable hulu

also there is a hulu plugin for xbmc...

not a big deal, really.

[CZroe]

boxee is just a modded version xbmc, pretty easy to re-enable hulu

also there is a hulu plugin for xbmc...

not a big deal, really.

A little help, plz?

NM. Just found out that it isn't an XBMC port to iPhone and I'll pass.

[royalnewjersey]

I suspect that if they see a huge drop in viewers, Hulu will probably just make their own free appstore app. hell, maybe they are already working on one.

I think people are getting this story a bit confused. HULU didn't choose to be removed from Boxee at all. The content providers, and people who allow the shows to be broadcast through HULU, politely asked HULU to remove themselves from Boxee. Most of the people aboard HULU petitioned to be able to stay on.

This is a classic example of strongarm peace. They "suggest" that HULU remove themselves from Boxee, and HULU knows what will happen if they don't comply.

[JStraitiff]

its okay as long as we have xbmc we can still use hulu so idc