Boxee responds to NBC’s Jeff Zucker
Congress held a hearing today examining the proposed acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast. Speaking before the committee were Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast and Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC.
During the hearing the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, Rep. Rick Boucher, asked Zucker “What about Boxee?”. Here’s the clip with the transcript below:
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA): What about Boxee? Mr. Zucker you probably are in a better position to answer that. Did Hulu block the Boxee users from access to the Hulu programs?
Zucker (NBC): This was a decision made by the Hulu management to, uh, what Boxee was doing was illegally taking the content that was on Hulu without any business deal. And, you know, all, all the, we have several distributors, actually many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with so we don’t preclude distribution deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content.
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA): “Well would you have negotiations with Boxee upon request?”
Zucker (NBC): “We have always said that we’re open to negotiations.”
I’d like to set the record straight regarding Boxee’s access to Hulu. Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so.
Above, Mr. Zucker says the original decision was made by Hulu’s management. That is correct, but as Jason Kilar (Hulu’s CEO) wrote in his post, the request came from NBC. “Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes.”
There are now close to a million people using Boxee. When they watch shows from Hulu they are watching the ads and generate real revenues to NBC. We hope we will be able to work with NBC and offer more content and value to Boxee users as we believe a good number of our users will also be willing to pay one-time or subscription fees to access NBC’s content.
Mr. Zucker says they always said they are open to negotiations. That has not been our experience, but at this point, we will take Mr. Zucker’s offer at face value and will contact him. We are eager to work with both Comcast and NBCU to bring more content on more devices to our users. We believe the Internet represents a great opportunity for content owners and we hope that current artificial barriers put on distribution over the Internet will be taken down.
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I just want to know where their contracts for Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, and other companies that make browsers are… oh yeah, they don’t exist.
seriously man…. i hate using this word, especially on someone who has accomplished so much but this Zucker guy seems ignorant to me. Hes only 44 and he actually thinks that way? He actually said that what Boxee was doing is illegal? its so absurd
These people and there patents and copyrights… I swear they’re just limiting how much we can accomplish. Just look at h.264 and HTML5…
I think it’s more absurd that you think Jeff Zucker has accomplished so much. If failures count as accomplishments then yeah, this guy is almost off the scale. He has single-handedly ruined what used to be a decent network. I seriously hope Comcast considers canning him, or at least relocating him to a different department.
Hope NBC’s still enjoying that 200 million dollar loss that is the Winter Olympics.
While Zucker has definitely made some huge mistakes, if you are blaming him for all of NBC’s problems, you have to blame him for USA Network becoming the number 1 cable network, and overall the success of their cable holdings.
I love Boxee and think Hulu should not have blocked it in the first place, but technically, since using Boxee or any other program like it violated Hulu’s terms of use, it would be copyright infringement, wouldn’t it?
Read this post first before you comment here, since this would really give you all the background of this situation.
Thanks!
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2881
Thanks for the info. I know this isn’t a popular statement on the boxee blog, and personally I think Hulu’s terms of use should be changed so that it wouldn’t be violating them, but Boxee does “use technology or other means to access, index, frame or link to the Content or the Hulu Services that is not authorized by Hulu.” So at least when the user of boxee uses it to access Hulu, they are violating the terms.
The author of the blog you posted says “there is no way Boxee could illegally take content you are distributing for free.” That just isn’t true, legally. Robbing a soup kitchen is still illegal, even if they are giving it out free.
I’m not saying Zucker and NBC are doing the right thing. I’m just saying he may not be entirely wrong in what he said.
You nailed it. Perfect response.
-p
That, too, was my first response to his statements. When I play Hulu content in Boxee, I see the Hulu webpage moments before the video becomes fullscreen. To claim that viewing Hulu content (complete, ads and all) in a browser that isn’t one of the “big 3″ is somehow illegal is either a complete misunderstanding of the tech or a deliberate attempt to paint Boxee in a negative light.
Anyone who uses the software knows the truth.
I find that interesting. I don’t generally have any trouble watching Hulu videos in the Boxee Beta currently. Should I not be able to? Once in a while the video will stop about halfway through and say it’s no longer available, but I restart, and all’s well.
Kudos to Boxee and way to call them on it! I love it when people set themselves up so perfectly. NBC Fail.
Great! I can’t believe that Rep. Rick Boucher knew about this issue. Let’s hope for the content getto being imposed on the internet users around the world to be eliminated.
We want to be able to pay for and view the content in any place around the world, without the artificial restrictions set by media conglomerates unable to adjust to a new way of doing business
I don’t see why I would pay an extra fee for NBC.
First off, other than 2 shows, Chuck and the Office, their content isn’t very good. Even those 2 are starting to go downhill.
Second, I already am paying for local cable so I can get local news (includes NBC), DirecTv (includes NBC) and then I also pay for HD feeds via DirecTv for NBC.
IF anything they should pay me or let me watch hulu without commercials!
Boxee shouldn’t have to pay anything to access the feeds since they are unaltered and their revenue streams are still intact. This is your typical big company executive that just doesn’t understand technology and really should just not speak when asked about it.
d
I think that it will be hard for them to charge for something that they otherwise make available for free, but as you mentioned they can provide additional value by deciding to:
- offer SD vs. HD streams
- make more content available
- make the content available as soon as it airs
- offer extra content
- etc.
some users will value it and pay for it, and some won’t
If we didn’t have to wait a week for most shows that could be something, but when I can DVR their content and keep it essentially forever, they just don’t understand.
They need to just get their executives salaries and actors salaries under control, the new economy should normalize their salaries. If they aren’t making enough money, maybe they are paying out too much?
d
As a resident of Virginia and a Boxee user I went ahead and passed on this post and a brief letter of support for Boxee to Representative Boucher. He is not my representative but I am sure he will still be receptive to a fellow Virginian.
Well said! Zucker clearly doesn’t understand what Boxee is or how it works, based on his comments. By no stretch of any reasonable person’s imagination is Boxee “illegally taking” anything. Indeed, Boxee serves as an additional (and increasingly popular) distribution channel for Hulu’s content. By refusing to participate, Hulu/NBC/et. al are just frustrating viewers and turning away ad dollars. For a media company struggling to survive in a rapidly changing landscape, that seems dangerously foolish.
I would suggest if there was a way to interact with the ads (i.e. choose a different trailer) then I would do that. The only way I can see that happening is if Hulu work with Boxee.
Who cares if it is from my couch and not my desk chair.
Does anyone know if the Hulu Desktop lets you choose specific ads? Never installed it.
I’m looking forward to a smoother hulu experience within boxee
me, too. working together we could create a great user experience. and I believe that we could find ways to offer more content and options for users some of it ad-supported and some for a fee.
So who fed this question to Boucher? I would be shocked if he or his staff came up with it on their own. If Boxee did it, nice job.
If NBCU did it – FAIL!
Boxee represents a step toward what every consumer wants but content providers will never allow – aggregated, a la carte programming.
There are probably a lot of nervous execs with little to no understanding of the tech around their own medium concerned that they will lose the battle for viewer allegiance to an outside concern (Boxee). Sounds like the case here, for sure.
More power to you, Avner and co.
Hulu blocks access to the PS3 as well. After losing hundreds of millions of dollars last year, shouldn’t NBC be pursuing new ways to deliver their content (and advertisements) instead of the other way around?
From Boxee’s and the user’s perspective, I dislike Hulu’s decision to make it difficult/awkward to access Hulu content. Your argument is spot on: their content is free/ad-supported on their website, so why not make it available the same way via another interface, such as Boxee?
From Hulu’s perspective, I think it does make sense to block Boxee, if only temporarily, until they figure out a longer-term strategy. Fragmenting their distribution weakens their competitive position, especially if they give distribution power to another software/video player (ie. you). Their decision to block Boxee seems based more on fear of losing control of distribution than anything else. That’s why they aren’t available on YouTube either.
However, with the current setup, I find that I often have to adjust the resolution/zoom-level to get Hulu videos to stream properly, and the fast-forward/rewind buttons are kinda buggy — so it’s a lose-lose for Hulu and Boxee at the moment.
It also seems that Hulu loses a few other things, which may seem insignificant to you and I, but are probably important to Hulu and their partners — such as the ability to advertise around the content (note the small banner/sponsorship on Hulu above the video), they lose the attribution (ie. “SNL, Saturday’s at 11:30pm, presented by NBC”), and finally they lose the cross-promotion opportunities after an episode ends (i think).
To solve this, I’d like to see Hulu develop a paid app in Boxee and start charging for their content. I would pay a few bucks a month (maybe even more if they increased the content available and included HD streams) — and they can even keep the ads in it. Why not broach that topic with Kilar?
CD:
Excellent analysis of this dustup….as a Boxee and Hulu user, all I want is the convenience of being able to have a seamless experience. And while I agree that Hulu should be able to see its interests as not just compatible, but complementary, with Boxee’s, clearly there is, on the part of NBC and others, fear of losing control, even as the media landscape continues to quake beneath our feet in realtime.
What I find sadly short sighted about Hulu’s inability to play nice with Boxee is that consumer interest or demand is ultimately going to prevail…if I want to watch content that originates from Hulu or the broadcast networks via the interface of my choosing — Boxee, Windows Media Center, MythTV what have you — someone will eventually engineer a way around whatever proprietary roadblocks or resistance that are in place.
While NBC may be trying to defend the vulnerable Hulu brand from this eventuality, it is an ill-advised and short-sighted strategy.
Great post comeback Avner and good to see you taking an immediate public position. Of course, they (NBCU, Comcast, et al) are undoubtedly seeing the screen real estate *around* the videos as being prime ad space…but IPTV content is full screen so that’s a moot point.
Media’s biggest problem is that it’s a bitch not to completely control one’s distribution. Welcome to teh internets Mr. Zucker.
I just sent the following letter to Congressman Boucher via . I suggest others do as well.
Dear Congressman Boucher,
During your hearings regarding Comcast’s acquisition of NBC you asked a question regarding Hulu’s block of Boxee software.
First off I would like to thank you for asking a question that very much affects the future of media.
Unfortunately you were provided with incorrect information in Mr. Zucker’s response. Boxee software does not distribute Hulu content.
Instead Boxee is designed to provide access to many different content sites using its built in web browser. Boxee does NOT pretend the content is theirs nor do they place ads within the content. Indeed Boxee treats Hulu just as if it was opened in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.
Further the Boxee developers have tried many times to work with Hulu with limited response.
I find both of Mr. Zucker’s statements particularly disturbing considering the magnitude of the potential Comcast deal. NBC has proven they wish to block a person’s access to ad-supported content , I very much fear Comcast will take that policy further should the deal be allowed.
Please consider researching the issue further yourself by at least reading Boxee’s response at http://blog.boxee.tv/2010/02/04/boxee-responds-to-nbcs-jeff-zucker/.
Thank you,
I’m a Boxee user, but this post is nonsense.
By forcing the full screen, Boxee essentially strips off everything else on the page. So Zucker is right.
That Boxee uses a browser like Firefox is a BS claim.
Other browsers don’t force you to go full screen in order to obscure the rest of the page, in fact, they default to displaying Hulu’s branding, and make the user choose full screen.
This is actually the thing about Boxee that makes me completely crazy. I don’t want the full screen decision to be made for me.
Fair point about the browser and full-screen mode, but if that was the only issue then why would Hulu not take Boxee’s calls and why blame NBC?
I for one would be more then willing to interact with ads if the ability was there. That would require Hulu to work with Boxee which to date they have not been willing to do. Instead they hid behind the “content partners don’t like it” explanation.
Here’s hoping that this leads to a partnership where the customer wins. I’m selfish that way.
Full screen is an option that is built into the video player itself, and the ads are embedded into streams, not the web page.
So here’s the question:
Why are you trolling for a corporation like NBC that wants to force you to pay for things that should be free? Do you really just misunderstand technology or is there another motive?
Information wants to be free. And when it isn’t free, it will find other ways to make itself free.
As I said, I like and use Boxee. But liking or using a product doesn’t equate to parroting their nonsensical arguments.
As for your repetition of “Information wants to be free”, I’d suggest you have the facts wrong. You want information to be free, but information actually has no opinion on the matter at all.
Hulu content isn’t “information,” it’s a product, and like any product, you have to pay for it — what we define as “free” generally means you don’t pay in $$ for it, but when you watch an advertisement that’s essentially payment to the network. If Boxee is modifying that delicate relationship in any way, I understand their concern. Whoever got the idea that just because you can switch on a broadcast TV and watch something without opening your wallet means that you should be able to own/use/watch the content however you want needs to rethink their ideas from the ground up.
That said, I’m certainly not saying the studios / production companies are being entirely consistent, fair, or even fiscally responsible when it comes down to Boxee. It’s in their best interests to have as many hits as possible, I’d assume, and I am personally frustrated they haven’t reached out to the Boxee team to work out a mutually beneficial partnership (or responded to Boxee’s requests, as I understand the situation).
But to say the studios have a moral obligation to provide you with new episodes of The Office for free is a bit much, imo. If you don’t like it, vote with your wallet / mouse / Boxee remote, and go watch lower-budget, small production companies that are willing to give away their product.
“a corporation like NBC that wants to force you to pay for things that should be free”
You’ve got to be kidding. NBCU produces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tv and sells most of it to cable carriers via their carriage contracts. By allowing it to be streamed free to tvs, they get less money from their carriage fees and thus have less money in their budget to produce tv. The revenue from the 3 or 4 ads shown during a hulu stream doesn’t even start to make up for the lost revenue should people begin to cancel their cable contracts and switch to boxee as an alternative. I love the fact that the content is all free right now, but its delusional to think that the current model is sustainable. From a business perspective, only once hulu establishes a payment system does it make sense to cooperate with boxee and others and expand traffic. Until then, they lose money every time someone switches off cable and uses boxee. It sucks for us users, but it makes sense from NBCU’s perspective.
You’re a troll, face facts.
Go back and hide under the bridge.
“strips off everything else on the page” so I guess all those iphone apps that pull web content from sites and re-arrange them in a different way are all doing so illegally as well? If the content is available for all to see, a browser is able to maniuplate it however the browser wants to. If that’s “illegal” then I’ll eat my fucking hat. If they really cared about this — then they wouldn’t even have their site accessible through a browser, they would make you use some other program to view the content and encrypt the code + stream.
He’s not a troll. What he says is right and correct. If Boxee wants to play the innocent game, then they should just display the web page, NOT change the usability of the web page, e.g. by going full screen. It doesn’t matter if the ads are embedded in the stream or not. The Terms of Service at Hulu do not allow to mess with the normal usability of their web page, so forcing the full screen, is BREAKING the Hulu ToS.
I want Boxee to be seen as the innocent guys here. But for this to happen, just load the web page, and let the user do the rest. Boxee, I hope you’re listening. Do the right thing, and then, and only then, NBC will have nothing on you.
I’m sorry but I use Boxee so that I don’t have to muck around with the mouse!
When I watch my content on my TV the last thing in the world I want to do is have to press buttons every ten minutes to please all those advertising banners.
Flash your add for 30 seconds and get out of my way.
That is the user experience I expect from any service! To force me to endure anything more than that will give me the incentive to search for my Boobtube time elsewhere.
I’m not alone in this and if you really don’t want to be plagued with adverts like the current mainstreams distributions then you’d honestly think the same way.
I’m sorry, but it’s not what YOU want. It’s about what the Terms of Service of Hulu require of you. You have it upside down. If you don’t agree with the ToS, then don’t use their site. But if you’re going to use it, use it as per their request. And in this case, having Hulu interfering with the default usability of the Hulu site, is not right.
Eugenia
That is actually not the case. EULA or not a user can click anywhere on their screen using any device/program they chose, and the only recourse the webpage owner has is blocking or putting security precautions in the way.
If Hulu put a clause in their EULA stating that you are not allowed to click the full screen button for 15 seconds once you load a page, you could click the button right away and there is nothing legally they could do to you. The burden falls on them to enforce the conditions of the EULA, and it is reasonable for a user to assume that they have full control of their keyboard and mouse to click anywhere they chose on their screen. In this case the best you could get boxee for is some assistance of users in breaking the EULA since boxee isn’t viewing the content, you are. Remember, you clicked the link.
Where is this Hulu TOS I can read that dictates that an app like boxee is not allowed (or “illegal”)?
David, yes, a user can click the fullscreen button. But not the browser, or a plugin, or another application should do that FOR the user. Boxee should not be pressing the Fullscreen button for the user, because then Boxee interferes with the defaults of the Hulu site.
What if the designers of the site WANT the user to view the page before he hits fullscreen? What if the designers have there a nice little graphic and WANT their visitors to view it? As stupid this might sound, it could happen. When you use someone’s service, you use it as per their request, and by using the defaults. But when you get third party tools interfering with that default experience, then this can be seen, and it is seen, as “illegal” from Hulu, because it breaks their ToS. Only the user should be able to alter the defaults, not third party tools.
So according to you guys if I click the full screen option on my IE8 then I’m watching HULU illegally? You guys are ridiculous.
I’m kinda with RUIo here. There’s no ads on a Hulu video page. Hulu doesn’t lose ad impressions or anything of that nature at full screen.
If they’re concerned Boxee users will confuse Hulu content for Boxee content, they could make their watermark more dominant, or work with Boxee on a different solution.
Usability of HULU?! The only usability is to display full screen video in a browser. That is exactly what Boxee does.
Doesn’t embedding the video (using Hulu’s embed code) into a blog or any other web site do the same?
Dear, Boxee team. Good luck, because http://somethingjustgotreal.com/
LOL. high on my-favorite-comment-ever list.
real or fierce? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XozWJgzgnT8
if we were using disqus comments, these video clips would be in line in the comment thread. just sayin. and promoting the portfolio, shamelessly as usual.
shamless is the only way to go
According to some of the ridiculous logic used above doing this (embedding the video without the original web site content etc) with Hulu content would violate the terms of service.
So this means Boxee will re-enable Hulu with an option to go to full screen. Great. When will this be available?
Take down notice? Tell Zucker that Boucher and the DoJ are standing by to answer his questions.
NBC also put out a racist menu in honor of black history month in the US today… This is not a company that I would negotiate with.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/nbc-cafeteria-celebrates-black-history-month-with-fried-chicken-special/
I don’t know what this is all about considering HULU never did and still does not work on my Boxee!
But when Hulu blocked boxee, you did not use a web browser. You used some other method that was unique to boxee, which hulu was able to detect and block. Only then did you switch to the Mozilla engine.
Having said that, it’s still BS that they would block boxee regardless especially since they have Hulu Desktop performing the same duty.
The easy way to watch NBC if there is anything worth watching is to record it and watching with a 30sec skip button. Commercials… what commercials? On Hulu you can’t skip em.
dear boxee / my name is david b conway , and my comments to cspan cable . i was watching the comcast merger just with the nbc network , and my question is that i just check my comcast cable bill , and it went up on price just to 65 .62 dollars and cents , and since we had the switch over just to digtal cable from last year off feburary 2009, just in my era just at greenfield massuittes at comcast cable they told me at my face just about the switch over that we only get a better picture and sound better as well and they do,nt give nothing back just from the return as well / and they do,nt give us nothing back as well , and plus they allso took off a few off the basic cable channels as well and they took off nesn and plus with cmt / country music station and the last thing they took off as well is called hallmark channel as well , and how can we trust them , i do,nt trust comcast cable any more / love david b conway
This is all pretty much moot since if the deal goes through Zucker will go bye bye and the management will shift to a more cable-centric team. Remember Zucker is the reason why NBC has no good content to share. Boxee is now going to negotiate with the largest ISP in the country who already have their own Hulu-like portal for the TV subscribers.
Things are bound to get more complicated.
I was hoping that someone had the “ASS” stamp from Conan’s show
to superimpose over Zucker.
If Hulu’s issue with boxee is that the ads on the page before going fullscreen aren’t being shown, then why not just make their own boxee app that shows all those ads before you start watching a show?
Problem solved
Because the issue is that Big Media Companies don’t want us watching internet television while at the same time dropping cable TV. They still don’t know what to make out of this new trend and HULU was merely and experiment. They know that they risk loosing a ton of money if people just watches everything from the internet without cable TV service anymore and that scares the crapola out of them. Obviously they think that the CABLE model it’s not an overprized and out of date content delivery method. For them is fine if we pay ridiculous amount of money for that, they are happy, but now BOXEE is seriously threatening this revenue stream for them. That is why BOXEE is trying to calm them down by offering a way of collecting payments through the software.
@Avner
Who should we write letters to(address/name) to correct this injustice?
not sure. maybe to your local congressman?
but I think the best would be for NBC to engage in discussions with us and find a solution that works for everyone.
He said that they are OPEN to negotiations! JAJAJAJA. Have you contacted them already Avner?
The best thing about this whole issue is the ability for CSPAN to support an embed that is edited right down to the “important snippit” – with both a start and finish. That’s the first time I’ve watched C-SPAN with any interest in, well, forever.
Have a great meeting. Who knew that it would take a congressional action to do so!
If anyone is stupid enough to think I would ever pay one single cent for any content that’s being paid for by advertisers, then I have some prime oceanfront property to sell them, located just outside of Helena, Montana.
Either it’s advertiser-supported, or it’s subscriber-supported. You’re not going to double-dip, NBC, because you have already proved that you can’t be trusted; you’ll either cheat the subscribers, or the advertisers, or both.
Honestly I wouldn’t pay any fee to hulu to watch from boxee..that’s why there are ads so the shows can be “free” and NBC can make a buck too. the networks are damming themselves to the dustbin of history. good riddance
pay? you’re incorrect. why pay boxee a fee when you can watch it free either on hulu or on nbc itself?
Just sent an email to Congressman Boucher thanking him for taking the time to ask a question like this. It really took me off guard and I wish more politicians would get involved in technology.
How dare NBC control who has access to their programming or programs that they licence. BURRRR evil companies make me mad. Anyone who has or uses the boxee service has a god given right to view hulu videos praise god.
First I’d like to say that I like Boxee a lot and would love to be able to watch Hulu on it. I’d also like to mention that I’m not a lawyer and this is just my personal opinion.
Now, for those of you claiming that it should be OK to have Hulu on Boxee just because it’s viewable on their public website, no matter what you think you’re personally entitled to, that’s NOT ENOUGH. I urge you to read up on legal cases of the Media and Entertainment industry and related business decisions for the past 80 years. Just because something is technically feasible doesn’t mean that it is legal or that it makes business sense. The reality is that business is much more complicated than a greasemonkey script.
Yes, “technically” Boxee uses a web browser (library) to open the Hulu site. But it also immediately starts playing the main video stream and goes full screen, it removes all other user interface elements, site design, disclaimers, copyright notices, etc. Is Hulu supposed to change their service and fulfill all those legal obligations by cramming everything inside the video box just in case someone decides to view this on a TV?
Boxee is nice and polite and properly labels the app “Hulu”. But what prevents some other software developer from doing something similar and calling it “Joe’s Corner”? What happens if Joe decides to show completely unrelated ads around the content? Now imagine that those ads are for adult sites. Now let’s imagine that Pampers is one of Hulu’s advertisers. How do you think they would feel if they got wind that their ads are playing next to porn products? Do you think their relationship with Hulu will last long? Who do you think they’ll blame? Who “allowed” this to happen?
You may be tempted to say “but Boxee is not doing that”. That’s right, but what guarantees does NBC/Universal have that they won’t do something “objectionable” in the future? They currently have no business relationship with Boxee (AFAIK), no contract, no recourse.
And that is just one example of the kinds of things that executives have to think about and deal with. Losing advertisers (their revenue stream) because they can’t control their distributions is bad for their business. And as much as we would like for all this content to be free, it isn’t. So we have to consider that all these players have to find a mutually beneficial way of working together. It IS about control. So if the NBC executives can be convinced that Boxee will “do the right thing” and provide a desired demographic then they’ll probably negotiate something. They will probably seek some protection (or indemnification) in case something goes wrong with the relationship. This is standard business practice.
On the other hand, it would be pretty stupid of them not to explore an opportunity with Boxee, and it sounds like that’s been the case so far. I think it’s pretty clear that Boxee has a very clear vision of what consuming audio-visual media will look like in the near future (or present for some of us). They also have a loyal following and influential fans, so it’s practically a no brainer.
In conclusion, yes, it has to be convenient for the end-user, but it has to be good business for the content provider as well. They may overpay their talent 100x over and be lousy business managers, but that’s for their stockholders to deal with and for the market to decide. You need to realize that this is not about bits and bytes. It’s about people making business decisions. Managers and lawyers trying to figure out the new distribution models. These decisions are made, for better or for worse, by humans, just like us.
Your logic does not hold:
“it removes all other user interface elements, site design, disclaimers, copyright notices, etc. ”
The same can be said about my using the embed code and embedding it in my own web site.; which HULU clearly allows.
Again, Hulu provides the embed code. So long as I follow Hulu terms of service I am fine.
Which part of what Boxee does is violating Hulu’s terms of service?
I disagree that it’s exactly the same as using the embed code in a blog. When you embed a Hulu clip in a blog it shows a static thumbnail with some branding. It has the Hulu logo on top and says Presented by NBC at the bottom. Furthermore, the user interaction is different, when you roll over an embedded clip with a mouse you get a Hulu bar with a search box and other sharing options. All of these features are virtually unavailable or inaccessible when viewed inside Boxee (assuming the standard use without mouse input). These may seem like small details to you but they can be BIG issues for the media companies. Many people seem insensitive to that and this perception gap can cause problems in these discussions.
I haven’t read their terms of service and they may very well permit this kind of use. I never said that Boxee was violating anything or even doing anything wrong for that matter. I was just trying to illuminate the other point of view which is often lost when comments get heated and people take sides. Trust me, I’m on your side, in the sense that I want to be able to watch Hulu on Boxee. I actually wish it would be much simpler, through a simple API, instead of having developers jump through hoops to make it work. But we’ve also seen what happens when these things are not handled properly.
Obviously you didn’t read Hulu’s Terms of Service.
“use technology or other means to access, index, frame or link to the Content or the Hulu Services that is not authorized by Hulu.”
It wasn’t authorized by Hulu, therefor it is against their Terms of Service. Any arguments to the contrary are only arguments for Hulu to change their Terms of Service (which I don’t see happening anytime soon).
Hi… Id like to say.. i remember that i read somewhere that without mozilla/firefox none of this would be possible… so is it safe to say Boxee is using firefox(technology) to access the Hulu website.. Thus… we would be using Firefox to watch Hulu?
but maybe i missed something.
Just thought i would comment and say neat design, did you code it yourself? Looks great.
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[...] deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content.”In a blog post, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen responds to Zucker’s claims of illegal content access. He explains that the workaround that currently [...]
[...] a blog post, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen responds to Zucker’s claims of illegal content access. He explains that the workaround that currently [...]
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[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments Comments RSS Feed Trackbacks are closed Post a comment Share on Twitter Share on Facebook [...]
[...] a blog post, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen responds to Zucker’s claims of illegal content access. He explains that the workaround that currently [...]
[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments [...]
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[...] deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content.”In a blog post, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen responds to Zucker’s claims of illegal content access. He explains that the workaround that currently [...]
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[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] has responded to the assertion that they were engaged in illegal activity. Boxee’s Avner Ronen pointed out that they were in no [...]
[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments Del dette indlæg! [...]
[...] accusation before Congress that Boxee violated the law triggered a lengthy response late this afternoon from Boxee Founder and CEO Avner Ronen, on his company’s blog: “Boxee uses a web [...]
[...] leave a comment » I’d like to set the record straight regarding Boxee’s access to Hulu. Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so. via blog.boxee.tv [...]
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[...] and consequently Hulu, is fundamentally wrong on this one. As Boxee explains in a measured blog response, Boxee accesses content using a Web browser. There is no taking of video, no adding of adverts. In [...]
[...] vocal CEO Avner Ronen responds in a blog post with a logic that is difficult to dispute: Boxee provides a web browser to access [...]
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[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments Del dette indlæg! [...]
[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Hulu content and that NBC would be “open to negotiations” with the software firm; Boxee have responded by denying that they have done anything illegal, and pointed at the content providers, not Hulu, [...]
[...] Permalink Boxee | C-SPAN | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Boxee Blog (via Business Insider) [...]
[...] • Comcast-NBCU Hearings: Zucker Confronted About Hulu’s Boxee Block – During a congressional hearing. And Boxee responds to NBC’s Jeff Zucker [...]
[...] Hulu’s Web site and the video within that page plays,” Boxee CEO Avner Ronen wrote in a blog post. “We don’t ‘take’ the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads [...]
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