Reid Burke

I sent an email to Jason Kilar regarding the decision to remove Hulu content from Boxee. Even though their decision was forced by their content partners, their partners need to understand that you can’t keep Hulu’s content caged on “mobile computing devices” forever:

I don’t use Boxee. I have a TiVo.

I love Hulu when I am sitting in front of a computer; however, most of the time I’m not in front of the computer when I want to watch Hulu content. I’m in front of my TV.

Although I can watch, for example, SNL clips in much higher quality on Hulu, I will instead opt to use YouTube on TiVo to watch the same clips because it’s more convenient and the content is where I want it: on my 42″ plasma television.

This is a loss for your partners, who make no money from ads. This is a loss for me, who experiences poor quality content.

Removal from Boxee will only force these users to use a method that remains and that won’t make you any money. In the future, being more stringent over content will only cause users like me to continue to use that best available method where everyone loses.

I hope that your partners will come to understand that fact.