Comments on: Coming to Sling.com: Viacom Shows That YouTube, Hulu Can't Show You

By: Sling Along With Me — Tara Ariano

Sling Along With Me — Tara Ariano — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:57:23 +0000

[...] video portal (kind of like Hulu, which is one of our content partners, although having just signed a giant deal with Viacom, we actually have more content than Hulu does), but it also has a blog, so I’ve been writing [...]

By: Grace Chee

Grace Chee — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:12:46 +0000

I hate having to remember all of this. The best TV site I’ve found to date is tv.blinkx.com – you can find out where everything lives FOR FREE and the site will take you straight to the show. None of this nonsensical traipsing about.

By: Babak Nivi

Babak Nivi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:11:23 +0000

“Because there really isn’t any rhyme or reason to this.”

I’m guessing the content owners want to help the smaller sites that aren’t doing as well as Hulu. How? By giving them exclusive content.

Giving everybody the same content will just re-inforce the success of the leaders. Then the content owners will be stuck with a few channels for online distribution and little leverage in their negotiations. Guys like Hulu will have a monopsony.

By: Peter Kafka

Peter Kafka — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:26:50 +0000

Brian, definitely agree with you about upside for consumer right now. Re: scary times for owners/distributors – yep. Which makes it scary for, um, people who do that for a living. But also exciting!

By: Mac Beach

Mac Beach — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:17:29 +0000

The way it plays out is that when a bunch of old farts with white hair who can’t read their own e-mail without help from a secretary finally find their way into a nursing home where the only technology they have to manage is their drool cup and bedpan, THEN there will be rational on-demand Internet based media.

I think we have a few years to go.

By: Finance Geek » Sling.com Gets One Leg Up On Hulu — For Now

Finance Geek » Sling.com Gets One Leg Up On Hulu — For Now — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:25:28 +0000

[...] EchoStar/Sling Media’s Sling.com video site gets a boost: Its viewers will soon be able to watch Viacom (VIAB) shows like MTV’s “The Hills” via a new deal. [...]

By: Coming to Sling.com: Viacom Shows That YouTube, Hulu Can’t Show You [MediaMemo] | heave-ho.org

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:20:06 +0000

[...] Read the original post: Coming to Sling.com: Viacom Shows That YouTube, Hulu Can’t Show You [MediaMemo] [...]

By: Brian Ballan

Brian Ballan — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:41:48 +0000

Or, a company like Boxee can pull it all together. Plus, it’s probably easier to check Hulu, Joost, etc than to find a good torrent that you feel comfortable using/sharing on for most people.

Frankly, I’ve been struggling with how this all plays out. The content creators can pretty easily distribute the big shows on their own sites, but portals (like Hulu et al) can introduce the smaller stuff via recommendations, etc. In the end, who ends up winning? Maybe ABC has it right in that people will come to view the ABC brand as the creator of great content and always go to ABC.com to find new and interesting shows. In that case, Hulu’s differentiator won’t be the content anymore, but will be the interface (which is amazing) but potentially could be disintermediated by boxee, appleTV, etc.

Bottom line: it’s exciting to be a consumer right now. scary to be a content owner/distributor