Hulu get defensive!

[mkh]

Found this on another forum...



"
I thought I'd share for whoever is working on the app:

Hulu begins encrypting HTML content to thwart non-browser apps

"It looks like Hulu's trying yet another ill-fated tactic to keep its content restricted to traditional browsers and off things like Boxee -- TunerFreeMCE's Martin Millmore says Hulu's HTML is now encrypted at the source and then decrypted using Javascript on the client. That means plugins that parse the Hulu site for links to content won't work anymore, but man, what a complicated monkey dance for basically no gain -- it's already been broken, and we're wondering what Hulu's going to do when Boxee or another company stops playing around and simply builds a full-on WebKit or Gecko browser with a tweaked ID string into their app. Keep driving towards that cliff, guys -- millions of users who want Hulu on their TVs and will jump through hoops to get it don't represent any kind of market opportunity or anything."

http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:hulu-get-defensive&catid=2:latest-news&Itemid=13
"

[mordaskyt]

I saw this as well, isn't Boxee already running a webkit? Hulu still seems to work fine for me.

[mkh]

Yes it is, working here to, but lets see for how long...

[mikebeuler]

This "cat-and-mouse" scenario gets played out over and over again. Usually it's the mouse that wins in the end.

[Hondo88]

Can someone explain what the big deal is?
Why are they so bent about non-browser viewing? It's not like we are side-stepping the adds right?

[dan1son]

Supposedly Hulu's content providers really want you to watch TV Shows on your TV from a cable provider or local network affiliate. I'd imagine they make substantially more cash off of the ludicrous amount of bad TV Ads than they do off of the shorter, less obnoxious Hulu ads.

It's about money. They live with Hulu on a computer since they believe you'll still prefer watching the shows on your TV and only use Hulu to catch-up, rewatch, or try new things that you later watch on the TV. If you can watch Hulu on a TV that ruins that business model. And we all know how they hate changing those.

[sixdeaftaxis]

The idea that a TV is something different from a computer monitor is an idea whose time has passed. Content providers need to stop and smell the the roses. The mythical Convergence has already happened.

[AlexNC]

Can someone explain what the big deal is?
Why are they so bent about non-browser viewing? It's not like we are side-stepping the adds right?Wow, I just tried typing out a response to this question a few time, explaining the reasoning behind it, but I kept talking myself in a circle eventually making it sound unreasonable. My conclusion is this ... No matter how you look at it, the old advertisement model is broken, and will never work again. These guys need to wake up and smell the coffee. Cable companies need to bite the bullet and realize they are no longer needed in the advertisement business. Content providers can now simply do it themselves, offering media directly through their websites.

[DPK]

Boxee is not doing anything illegal. We just utilize the hulu feeds and the new version of boxee opens hulu in a Mozilla based browser (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mozilla-based.html) window. So there's nothing to worry about here unless hulu outright blocks Mozilla based browsers. That'd be suicide however for them considering the number of people who use Firefox.

Stupider things have happened though.

[couchguy]

I don't know why, but I'm still gamely trying to take a cluestick to the folks at Hulu in a new post at couchapple.tv (http://couchapple.tv/2009/04/01/hulu-do-they-think-theyre-kidding.aspx). Always glad to hear from fellow Boxee fans.

Guy "CouchGuy" McLimore
http://www.couchapple.tv

[marcel]

remember that article was posted on April 1st( fool's day)...