That's partially because Hulu only has content licensing and agreements to distribute the content in the US. For the most part, anyone outside of the US who has tried visiting Hulu has gotten an error message. But Emily Turrettini of WatchingTV Online reports that Hulu has finally taken the remarkable step of posting a message that explains why the service is inaccessible and stating that Hulu hopes to go online abroad soon.
There's also an option to signup for email notification as soon as Hulu goes online in your region.
[via NewTeeVee]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-11-2008 @ 6:31PM
gooby said...
Considering that Apple's been unable to launch TV shows and movies on iTunes for its international viewers (Finland's still waiting, DAMN IT!) I'm not holding my breath for Hulu to make a deal any time soon.
Seriously, the movie studios and TV networks need to make this process a little faster if they want to keep people from not downloading stuff illegally. They need to make it easy, available everywhere at the same time and they need to make it available NOW.
Also, I would not go as far as to say this is a "remarkable step". It's just Hulu seems to have a better PR person typing away these things than for example Apple who doesn't seem to care to explain why it hasn't released movies and TV shows for all to view.
I'd be seriously surprised if they get CURRENT shows available for international audience within the year. I highly doubt it. And I'm not just talking about Canada, UK and France. I'm talking GLOBAL. Everywhere. I'm greedy like that.
Sorry for the rant but I'm still waiting for my TV and movies for the Finnish iTunes store and getting kind of tired of waiting...
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4-11-2008 @ 8:45PM
richard.gailey said...
gooby, I couldn't have said it better myself.
I am sick and tired of sites telling me that trailers or TV shows are only available in the US. This is one of the main reasons I for one pirate in the first place. Lets hope they change this for all sites sometime soon. The internet isn't as free as most people think as it depends on your location, which in this day and age is amazing.
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4-12-2008 @ 4:46AM
AA said...
I'm glad to see Australia is placed at the top of the region list.
Hope Hulu can work out deals with FOX8, Seven,TEN,etc (as many of shows on Hulu are seen on these channels). .
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4-12-2008 @ 7:48AM
Quikboy said...
Same thing with BBC's iPlayer. I heard some interesting stuff about it, but I can't view a single video at all on the site. So I'm rather disappointed by that too.
I really wish media didn't have to be all about "licensing and agreements". I mean, it's just TV. You watch, you see some ads, the site provider gets paid, and that's that. Why must it be so complicated internationally?
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4-12-2008 @ 7:24PM
keeves said...
i can't see iplayer being released internationality any time soon. There would uproar in the UK if they opened it up to the word, since every household in UK with a tv legally has to pay i think £140 to the BBC as a "tv licence" to cover it's costs.
Possibly paid version of the iplayer may come out, but no chance of all of the BBC's shows for free.
4-12-2008 @ 2:17PM
The King of Poland said...
I have a pretty small pipe and Hulu is the only streaming site that I actually can watch. How does it work? I don't know, but I'm enjoying it.
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