Hulu Pulls Out Of Boxee: Absolute Bull

February 18th, 2009

For the past few months, I’ve been loving Boxee on our Apple TV and mostly, Hulu. Now Hulu is pulling their content from Boxee. The reason: their content providers requested it. Here’s Boxee’s take on the whole deal.

Frankly, I don’t get what the issue is. The Hulu ads are retained in Boxee. I can even name some of the sponsors despite my attempts to ignore them, so they’re quite effective as far as awareness. I can’t say the same for the vast majority of ads on the web. I’m watching your television show including the ads; what’s the problem here?

Ultimately, Boxee is software that allows me to watch Hulu on the television – it just substitutes for a web browser. Would it be so egregious if I hooked my laptop up to the television and watched Hulu in a web browser that way? Somehow, I get the feeling some media executive wouldn’t understand that, get pissed, and try to shut that down as well.

The retarded thing about this whole situation: Boxee is a solution staring the content providers the face. I want to watch Internet video on the television. They’re making it really easy. Yet many companies seem intent on giving their customers the finger and not putting what we, as users, want, first. Someone wants to shut down a really great service that many people enjoy.

But if you want to take this content away, I guess I’ll just watch some ad-free Netflix Watch Instantly or buy some ad-free TV shows from Apple. I can see why many turn to less legitimate means.

Sorry Hulu, sorry Boxee. You may now be dead to me. Tell that to those clueless content providers.

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