Hulu opens for public, adds more videos
Hulu, the online video joint venture of News Corp and General Electric’s NBC Universal, will make its public debut on Wednesday with programming from Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros Television Group, Lionsgate and from sports leagues. Missing from the list of providers are media mogul Sumner Redstone-controlled companies Viacom Inc, which continues to hold discussions, Viacom said recently, and CBS Corp, which has said it was not averse to a licensing deal. At launch, Hulu will offer full-length episodes of more than 250 TV series from current hits such as “The Simpsons” as well as older shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” It also will offer 100 movies including “The Big Lebowski” and “Mulholland Drive.
“Hulu said it has signed licensing deals with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Hulu’s launch is a big bet by big media companies that consumers are as eager to spend long periods of time watching TV shows and movies in front of their computers as they are in front of their televisions. Ahead of its test launch four months ago, the service, dubbed by the press as a rival to Google Inc’s YouTube video sharing site, was skewered by the press and influential technology blogs for attempting to compete with the Web’s most popular video destination. Hulu has won over some of its harshest critics including technology blog, Techcrunch, which has since praised the venture for focus on professional content, clean, easy-to-use design, and video quality. Its readers voted it as the best video start-up of 2007.
Source: Reuters
Comments(34)
Bahh, it just says that the videos are not available on my country.
perhaps you can use a proxy server to access videos? I have been waiting for this for a long time, pay tv in new zealand is a ripoff, I hope price gouging pay tv services get their comeupence.
Eh, I was already invited so this doesn’t matter for me
how can you watch it if you live in the uk? is there a way of changing your ip or is it down to your service provider.
@4. Use a US based proxy. google it if you dont know what i mean
I have had an account since beta, but I live in the UK and can’t watch.
If anyone knows of a proxy that works so I can watch let me know!!
“Currently limited to users in the U.S.”
Good! That’s for all you people that constantly say nothing but garbage comes out of the US!
So sad: (Currently limited to users in the U.S.)
“Good! That’s for all you people that constantly say nothing but garbage comes out of the US!”
Yeah! Punish everyone because of the actions of a few. How typically American of you.
@Jake
Well not everyone is the US is a pompous a-hole but that doesn’t stop the rest of the world treating us like we are…so I guess it’s a taste of their own medicine
Every time I go to certain European countries, especially France, I am treated as if I am personally responsible for getting Bush elected and I told him to invade Iraq…
For everyone talking about “its only in the US” blah blah, use a proxy in the US to get access (as described above: “google it if you dont know what i mean”)
@ 7 NYC
March 11th, 2008 | 11:20
Ha! I’ve got to admit that a lot, not all, is garbage. I do like The Simpsons, Family Guy and a selection of others. Lots of shows from the US don’t get aired here, thankfully, because they are just pure drivel!!
Its not just in the US though, there are many stupid shows from all around the world too! Different people just like different things … or some people are just dumber than others!
@12 TempPD
There’s definitely a lot of garbage on American TV and in our cinemas but there’s a ton of good stuff too. Besides look at the postings on this site, 90% of the movies and tv shows posted are American in origin…how dead would this site be if not for “American garbage”
are the videos available for free?
@ 13 NYC
March 11th, 2008 | 11:54
Ya, I agree with your comment. I was talking about just the TV shows, even though there are quite a few of them that are actually okay.
The films are generally okay but those big “blockbusters” somehow have that typical Hollywood feel to them. That said, I still go and watch them and enjoy them (at face value anyway … explosions, CGI, etc, etc) When I actually examine the films (I am in no way a critic b.t.w), the stories are “all the same” if you know what I mean.
As I said in my previous comment, its not just in the US but all over, its just much more of it comes from the US. If you looked at it in a “percentage per country” manner, then the percentage of crap vs good would probably be similar in all countries.
Anyway, I like/dislike US shows/films just the same as I like/dislike films/shows from other countries.
@11 looooooooooooolll
I like hulu I’ve been using it for awhile now but the quality on live action shows is pretty bad cartoons r about the only thing worth watchin on there
I got halfway down the page and as soon as I saw the word “player”, I knew this was going to suck. They still don’t get it. The content is viewed through their own proprietary player, which means you can’t keep it, heavy DRM and other nasty software, and…You know what? I think I’ll just stick with my downloaded DRM-free .avi’s since I can watch whenever, wherever, and however I damn well please without “special” software, players, or any other type of restrictions.
So yeah – will hulu cost anything? And is the US restriction only for the private beta?
>>So yeah – will hulu cost anything? And is the US restriction only for the private beta?
The only thing i know that its only for the US. same phucking thing as AOL Video .. it says sorry US only… pfff now they wonder why there so much piracy … ITS MORE DIFFICULT TO WATCH LEGIT VIDEOS THAN DOWNLOAD THEM ON THE P2P !!!
they will never learn !
I hate the whole “they don’t get it” argument. It’s obviously made by people who have never actually used hulu. Me, I’m a college student and I rarely have time to catch tv shows, hulu has been a great way for me to catch up on things. If you’ve got a fast connection, watching anything on hulu has the same quality as any compressed divx file. And @18, you have no clue wth you’re talking about. There is no proprietary player for you to download or anything, it’s essentially youtube but better. Use hulu once, check out its features, and you’ll be hooked.
try this for example:
http://video.aol.com/partner/hulu/the-simpsons-the-debarted/gDf5Lby72NrXcrxk4sTJLQibEiLlS60m
and to answer to you question RiderOnTheStorm.
No it will not be available outside the U.S.
To the others that say USE A PROXY ? Give me a proxy that handle streaming !?!?!?!!!
Jeez most proxy are slower than ISDN !!!
That’s not exactly what I was waiting for
Yay, looks like it’s time to tell my friend to join up to this site finally. I’ve been using Hulu for a while now and it’s great! By limited commercial interruption, they actually mean limited which is great! The commercials are only 30 seconds long too. The video quality is superb. I recommend everyone that can successfully sign up and use this site do so!
@ 23 ELCouz
March 11th, 2008 | 17:50
I was one of those people who said “USE A PROXY” and I stand by it.
If you would like to know, I’m from outside the US and, yes I am using a proxy to access this service.
The speed is currently 4 to 5 Mbps from the proxy back to my machine.
The Hulu site is fully functional for me!
Quote; “Hulu opens to the public on March 12th!
(Currently limited to users in the U.S.)”
WTF???
does me alot of good here in Canada…..
I have to wonder; Why do you have to sign up to use Hulu? What does it do for them to make people register? Are they going to use your email address to send you spam?
And will this site have *FULL* seasons online, or will it be like every other TV site and only have some of the episodes online?
Why is it that they always keep it so regional??
I can’t watch it as I’m in Sweden -So pointless for me-
as many other of this places on the net.
So I keep to Free TV Torrents that have no Region restrictions.
So…um…what advantage does this give me over torrents?
Oh none, ok, lol, so lame.
I this another paid post Martin?
This site is awesome! There are 360 different TV shows and about 60 movies!
Hey guys I’ve tried this VPN and works fine, it breaks at the beginning but after the buffering it plays really great.
But hey I’m not sure it’s safe, please make sure that it is before trying…
http://anchorfree.com/hotspot-shield-download.php
You just have to install the software and then connect on icon placed on the tray…
Hope it helped.
Hugs and kisses
that hotspot shield thing works i am live outside the Us and can watch hulu with it
I was browsing around for alternate ways to watch hulu. It looks like the only decent way to do it, is to purchase a private VPN account. I highly doubt hulu can ban them all. I purchased mine from http://www.hidemynet.com , they provide UK and US servers currently, so I can also login to the UK server to access online video offered in the UK
. Like, Iplayer, Channel 4 on demand, bbc, etc. And it's only 5$/month, beats having to deal with the hassles of using hotspot shield (which is now banned anyway).