Will Hulu Freak Out Over Cablevision's Cool New Personalized Internet Channel?

from the wait-and-see... dept

Fri, Feb 26th 2010 6:32am — Mike Masnick

New York-based Cablevision has been one of the more innovative cable providers out there over the years. It's been mostly ahead of the competition in broadband speeds, and pioneered some interesting bundled offerings well before many other providers. It also fought and won its case to offer a remote DVR where other providers caved. That's not to say Cablevision doesn't have its own issues (and it certainly appears to have no clue how to run a newspaper). But, on the whole, when it comes to the actual technology side, you have to give Cablevision credit for really trying out new things and giving customers increased value.

One of its latest offerings is a pretty smart idea -- letting subscribers move internet content to their TVs remotely. Now, lots of tech savvy folks have set up systems to do this themselves, but this actually sounds like it makes it quite easy for users to do without having to setup any hardware or run any wires or anything, as it's all done over the internet. You send whatever you want to a Cablevision service, and then you can just turn on your TV to a specific channel, and you'll have access to the content. If it works, it sounds pretty cool.

But... are there problems looming? Apparently, you'll be able to send internet video as one of the types of content, and Broadband Reports found out that this includes content from sites like Hulu. Now, you may remember that Hulu has been pressured by its content partners/owners to keep its content (most of which originated on TV) off of TVs. There's simply no good reason for this, but it looks like Cablevision is now enabling that functionality as well -- even as Hulu has worked to block TV access from a variety of different devices and services. Seeing as NBC appears to be the major voice behind many of Hulu's blocks, and NBC is in the process of being acquired by Comcast (assuming regulatory approval), that could make for an interesting battle between Comcast and Cablevision down the road...

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Filed Under: cable, internet, tv
Companies: cablevision, comcast, hulu

22 Comments

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yozoo, 26 Feb 2010 @ 6:54am

Boxee Two
Sounds to me like the same issues will arise here. Hulu is television content not intended to be watched on a television.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:35am

Remote Monitor
Details are pretty slim, but it sounds like this is going to act like a remote monitor for a local PC. The Set Top Box would have a wireless network connection on the LAN side and stream the video output of the PC to a specific channel. If I understand correctly, the cable back to the cableco pop could be disconnected, and it would still work.
With the upstream bandwidth limitations in cable systems I doubt that bouncing the data would give the desired results. Calling it Television would not really be accurate unless the stream came from the cableco.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:48am

Re: Remote Monitor
So it'd be like a television with it's own media extender on it?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:53am

I feel sorry for non techies. I have a PC hooked into my TV and get to watch whatever the hell I want when I want it.
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inc, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:53am

Re: Boxee Two
What I find most annoying is the backwards about the logic of not watching hulu on your tv is that all of it is content is made for TV. Fighting the natural inclination to want to see it on your TV is like holding sand in your hand. Hold it loosely with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The tighter you grasp it, the faster it trickles through your fingers. I know people that instead of dealing with the blocks and commercials they just download unauthorized copies. They don't mind the commercials as much as being told how they can access a public internet site. Since you are watching the same commercial on your tv as your computer whats the difference. And what is TV nowadays anyway... a giant monitor.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 7:57am

Re: Re: Remote Monitor
I'm viewing it as the STB merging two video sources and sending that to the Television set.
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Boost, 26 Feb 2010 @ 8:19am

Seems pretty silly
I watch Hulu on my television all the time...I just hook up the TV as a second monitor and...well, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. It's not HD, but honestly, who gives a shit?
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 26 Feb 2010 @ 8:24am

Re: Re: Remote Monitor
It's going to be a media-server application (akin to Tversity or MediaTomb). You install the app on your pc, and one "channel" on your cable box will interface with the media server application over local ethernet.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2010 @ 8:48am

Re:
this...

laptop w/ N spec wireless card, HDMI out, wireless (or bluetooth) kb and mouse - done!
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Jam, 26 Feb 2010 @ 9:23am

I don't know that NBC will care since it's a cable provider doing it. They lock it up because they don't want people cancelling their cable subscriptions and going internet only that problem doesn't exist here. For their live Olympic streams they make you prove that you have a cable subscription.
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tracker1 (profile), 26 Feb 2010 @ 9:43am

Re: Re: Boxee Two
Well, I find it extra funny that Boxee was specifically targeted for filtering, but Hulu then comes up with their own Desktop app for a full-screen interface. I like Boxee a lot.

One thing I do find very interesting is you mention TVs being big Monitors, and they really are. The built in Tuner is mostly useless for most people these days, and a cost burden to boot. I also note that for the 32" size and up, it's a pretty good display option for a 1920x1080 resolution. My desk has a TV for a monitor because I wanted a larger display, but didn't need a super-high resolution. Works pretty well, except I went with a 42" which is actually too big in practicality sitting in front of it, but works well from the couch a few more feed away.
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Anony1, 26 Feb 2010 @ 9:56am

I don't think that the take over of NBC by Comcast should occur. It would create a potential market monopoly. Granted in the age of big media, we are really talking about battles between giants being common, but that doesn't mean it should be incouraged, and all regulation sidelined. So I object to the proposed "merger" on both practical, and regulatory grounds. From a buisness perspective however, NBCs actions visa vie Hulu may make sense. If more and more ad revenue is being lossed on standard programmming due to a migration to internet viewing, NBC may view non-restriction of Hulu content as a losing proposition from a market standpoint. I disagree with this view, but it may be what NBC is thinking.
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JediBrent, 26 Feb 2010 @ 10:14am

Re: PC TV
I second that. It's the only way to go.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2010 @ 7:06pm

Re:
Agreed. But throw in a pair of 2 T byte network drives as mirrored storage and you are golden. Music, Video, Web surfing. Way cool !!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2010 @ 5:18pm

"There's simply no good reason for this"? Lazy reporting. We may not like it, but content providers have a legitimate beef.
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goldleaf54 (profile), 7 May 2010 @ 2:09pm

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Barry, 16 Dec 2011 @ 5:40am

Hmmm
Details are pretty slim, but it sounds like this is going to act like a remote monitor for a local PC. The Set Top Box would have a wireless network connection on the LAN side and stream the video output of the PC to a specific channel. If I understand correctly, the cable back to the cableco pop could be disconnected, and it would still work.
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Cameraman Sydney, 4 Oct 2012 @ 1:55pm

Cameraman Sydney
Great article! The internet is evolving at a such a rapid speed, my friend once sent me a screen shot cameraman in sydney showing a current internet speed of 4.2kb! We thought it was the fastest connection ever! haha

Cameraman in Sydney
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