Tag Archives | Hulu

Shocker. Two big media companies come together to take control of their online video offerings, become quite successful. Attempt to further capitalize by nickel and diming their users even further.

Hulu is considering charging its users to view some content, according to News Corp chief digital officer Jonathan Miller. While he has only been on the job a little over two months now, his words should carry some weight considering he is the head of the venture’s digital strategy.

Miller notes that it is only his own speculation, but “in my opinion the answer could be yes. I don’t see why over time that shouldn’t happen.” This doesn’t mean all of the content would become pay-per-view either: it seems as if Miller is suggesting Hulu may place a premium on select streams.

It really is a shame that Hulu continues to do things that make it seem like the company is out to make a quick buck, or force the user to do things the way they want. Hulu’s Boxee tiff is a perfect example.

Ah well, just gives me another reason not to use it. Since the site’s launch, I’ve visited only three times. I guess with this latest news, it gives me even more of a reason to continue to pass over the service.

Okay. I know its not professional to say it, but I’m going to. Why must this company try so damn hard to make life difficult for the people who want to use their content? Oh that’s right. There’s this. Once again, the company is trying to dictate how and where you may watch the content on your site.

Let’s call it DRM — web style — because that’s pretty much what it is. Hulu is now taking steps to encrypt the HTML that they send to the browser, which in turn is decrypted at the client using JavaScript and DHTML. In plain English: if you’re not using a browser, you’re out of luck.

This is a bold-faced attempt at preventing any non-browser client (ahem, Boxee) from using its content in a way the company doesn’t approve of. Doesn’t matter what you the viewer may prefer, it’s Hulu’s way or the highway.

Bad news for Hulu, though — people have already found a way around this newest functionality — and Boxee is for all intents and purposes using a browser within its applicaiton to serve Hulu videos to you.

Given this content provider’s past history, its all but certain they’ll continue to try to thwart Boxee and others. After all, it directly threatens ZillionTV which in a shocker is supported by NBC Universal and News Corp, the two chief content providers to Hulu.

See, these two network’s sudden snub of Boxee was all planned. I just wish Boxee and others would stop being so nice to these people — its become abundantly clear they have no intention of being nice back.

Until Hulu stops this behavior, I’m no longer interested in using their service.