Hulu Brushes Off Boxee, and Boxee Comes Back for More
by Peter Kafka
Posted on March 6, 2009 at 6:00 PM PT
Just in case anyone was wondering: Hulu, the Web video service that lets you watch Fox and NBC shows on your computer, really doesn’t want you to plug that computer into your TV.
And Boxee, a start-up that makes it easy for you to plug your computer into your TV so you can watch Web video, doesn’t care.
Got it?
Here’s where we are: Early this morning, Boxee rolled out a workaround that let Boxee users watch Hulu shows again, which they haven’t been able to do since last month when Hulu pulled its shows off Boxee’s browser. Late this afternoon, Hulu squelched that workaround.
And as of now (8:51 p.m. EST), Boxee CEO Avner Ronen tells me, his team has made another series of tweaks that will let you watch Hulu shows on Boxee yet again. Ronen says he’s not quite sure about the technical details, but argues that his service has every right to let you watch Hulu on your television, since Hulu is a free Web service that anyone (in the U.S.) can access.
But he is sorry that he’s now playing cat-and-mouse with Hulu, a joint venture between GE’s (GE) NBC and News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox. “It’s not a very productive way to spend our time,” Ronen says. (News Corp is the owner of Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)
Confused? There’s more background here and here. But the important takeaway is that Hulu, or more accurately, Hulu’s TV progammer owners, are signaling to their partners–the big cable companies–that they’re willing to pull back on Web access to their shows. And Boxee, which has $4 million in financing from Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital, is signaling that it’s willing to dig in and fight.
[Image credit: Library of Congress via Flickr]
Comments
Actually, Boxee does not make it easy for you to plug the computer into your TV. Instead it provides a different interface that will work with the Apple remote unit. But given all the hassles that Hulu is presenting, it is doubtful that the Boxee interface is easier to use than the familiar browser.
Connecting a laptop computer to the TV puts a familiar browser on the TV. The TV is merely acting as a giant monitor for the computer while the computer is an Internet gateway for the TV. Given a remote mouse and keyboard the user gets a comfortable viewing experience 15 – 20 distant from the TV screen.
The following video demonstrates that the set-up is not complex.
http://insidedigitalmedia.com/.....net-geeky/
Our TVs are becoming dual-function devices. In one context they are conventional televisions and in a second they are giant monitors into the Internet Cloud. It’s similar to the iPhone functioning as a phone when we get a phone call and also functioning as a hand-held Web-browsing device when we visit Websites.
This is Third Generation Television.
http://www.insidedigitalmedia.com
Posted by Phil Leigh at March 7th, 2009 at 3:10 am