"There is no money in piping US ads and bandwidth to countries around the world. Hulu isn't treating you as a criminal any more than anyone else in the world. It's unfortunate that they don't have a means to monetize traffic to other countries, but I think it's difficult to blame them for honoring their advertising partners by not allowing this gaping hole. You can't access a lot of BBC media directly... Nobody is on their back."
I wouldn't be so sure that's there's no money in piping ads across the globe. Ask McDonalds, Nokia, Sony, Ford, Toyota, Microsoft, Apple etc. These are global brands and would surely want to take every opportunity to reach the widest audience. If there was no money in reaching overseas audiences, why when I visit US based web sites do I see ads for Toyota or Burger King? These aren't just US products, they can be bought around the world.
Sure, Joe the used car sales guy out on Route 19 isn't going to see any reason to worry about it, but is he likely to be an advertiser on Hulu anyway?
In defence of Hulu, I think that you'll find that the US national broadcasters like NBC & CBS also prevent overseas viewing of content via their web players. Not to say that it isn't stupid, but it does appear to the current model.
As for the BBC, it is worth remembering that they are owned and financed by taxpayers - not advertisers. Their license which is governed by parliament forbids some media being offered outside the UK. Why should the local taxpayers subsidise overseas viewers?
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Re: Overseas viewers
"There is no money in piping US ads and bandwidth to countries around the world. Hulu isn't treating you as a criminal any more than anyone else in the world. It's unfortunate that they don't have a means to monetize traffic to other countries, but I think it's difficult to blame them for honoring their advertising partners by not allowing this gaping hole. You can't access a lot of BBC media directly... Nobody is on their back."
I wouldn't be so sure that's there's no money in piping ads across the globe. Ask McDonalds, Nokia, Sony, Ford, Toyota, Microsoft, Apple etc. These are global brands and would surely want to take every opportunity to reach the widest audience. If there was no money in reaching overseas audiences, why when I visit US based web sites do I see ads for Toyota or Burger King? These aren't just US products, they can be bought around the world.
Sure, Joe the used car sales guy out on Route 19 isn't going to see any reason to worry about it, but is he likely to be an advertiser on Hulu anyway?
In defence of Hulu, I think that you'll find that the US national broadcasters like NBC & CBS also prevent overseas viewing of content via their web players. Not to say that it isn't stupid, but it does appear to the current model.
As for the BBC, it is worth remembering that they are owned and financed by taxpayers - not advertisers. Their license which is governed by parliament forbids some media being offered outside the UK. Why should the local taxpayers subsidise overseas viewers?
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by espritdave.
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