Wednesday, February 18th, 2009, at 11:02 pm
Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes. While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence — bumps and all — we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners. Without their content, none of what Hulu does would be possible, including providing you content via Hulu.com and our many distribution partner websites.
Apparently doing the right thing in this situation is simple: screw the users.
Wrong
The right thing to do here is keep the users happy while working out the hard details. Ads are still being shown; revenue is still being generated.
When will these content producers realize that they can’t possibly “own” any content—without an audience to watch it? Keep screwing customers, but don’t come crying when they are compelled to steal the content instead.
Any company that feels safe enough to screw their customers rather than innovate deserves to lose.