Hulu coming to UK; Canadians grind teeth
Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 03:29 PM ET
By Paul Jay, CBC News.ca.
Canadians love their online video, but this love has always been tempered by a lack of choice, and if there is a lightning rod for the frustration that comes from that dichotomy, it's the video streaming site Hulu.
Having said that, one small comfort was that Hulu was only available in the U.S., so it wasn't like we were the only country unable access the videos -- unlike the situation with Skype for the iPhone.
Well, take comfort no more: Hulu is coming to the UK in September, according to reports Wednesday.
I suspected when I saw this news that it would unleash another round of online howling from Canadian technophiles, a group of people already a bit peeved at the current state of affairs in Canada.
Steve Hodson over at former TechCrunch blogger Duncan Riley's Inquisitr perhaps sums it up best: "What about the rest of us poor saps who will still find ourselves stuck behind the geotarding wall?"
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Comments
James Ryan
No doubt Hulu will point to Canada's supposedly "lax" copyright laws as a justification for not allowing its use here. People in many other countries in the world are increasingly trading their basic right to control their lives for the convenience and pleasure of digital entertainment. The choice we face here in Canada will be, do we want to watch 24 and House online so badly that we are willing to trade yet more of our fundamental rights? Sadly, I suspect the answer to that question will be yes, because not many people really understand the degree to which laws like the American DMCA will ultimately impact their freedom. By the time political parties start shutting down critics using these laws, it will be far too late.
Posted May 21, 2009 05:14 PM
Lori Olson
Pirating from video streams is "not simple", and not the issue. The CRTC and its rules about Canadian content is the basis of the "geotarding wLL". And not making these streams available in Canada is actually increasing the amount of piracy going on, as people go "They won't sell it to me?!?! Fine! Pirate Bay, here I come."
Posted May 22, 2009 04:29 PM
Justin
Ottawa
I really don't care if hulu doesn't want me watching in Canada.
I do anyways!
Its called VPN... (Hot spot shield)
Look it up and watch away.
Posted May 24, 2009 10:12 PM
Monkey
Winnipeg
Totally agree with Justin (hehe, suckers)
And Lori, "Pirating" streaming video is actually pretty simple, all one has to do is download a program called Orbit Downloader, find a streaming source (say, YouTube) and tell the downloader to "pirate" the stream. After that all one would have to do is get a video converter (to convert from .flv to .avi or whatever) and thats it! Pretty simple eh?
Giarh me mateys!
Screw Hulu.
Posted May 25, 2009 06:32 PM
Dean
Ottawa
Online streaming and video is one of the main reasons the oligopoly(Rogers and Bell)that controls the internet here in Canada is instituting caps and outrageous overage fees (usage based billing)as well as traffic management technologies. They are trying to protect their other vested interests of broadcast (television) and monetized content services (video on demand and pay per view services). By marking up the overage fees by 500% to 3000%, gouging the customer, it makes it financial unpalatable for us to use the internet for all these services, which the internet could certainly do.
Posted May 26, 2009 07:21 AM
B.
Toronto
Lori, the CRTC in fact has nothing at all to do with why Hulu's not here. I'd love to think that Canada is the most important and lucrative market in the world outside the U.S. and should have been Hulu's very firstest expansion stop. But let's not be naive. The U.K.'s anglophone audience is at least 3 times as big as Canada's -- and, what's more, they're already well experienced with online TV watching, thanks to BBC's excellent efforts with iPlayer.
Posted May 27, 2009 06:48 PM
Cory
Winnipeg
Come on Hulu we want some choice. Canadians want you to make US shows AVAILABLE HERE.
Posted August 20, 2009 01:20 AM
koconnor100@gmail.com
Ottawa
TV.
On the Internet.
With the usual 38 minutes of commercials and only 22 minutes of show ?
No thanks I'll pass.
And if they block youtube I'll scream.
Posted November 30, 2009 09:40 PM