NO Hulu for Android

[ssummer]

If I had any doubt before, this article just removed it. Hulu has made it abundantly clear in the past (and now) that they do NOT want their content on mobile devices (a perfect example is the Skyfire situation). I never could figure out why that was the case, but now it seems that the major networks don't want to just give away their content on mobile devices (even with ad revenue) but prefer a subscription model (i.e. PrimeTime2Go). Even if Hulu wants to enter the mobile space, their content providers probably have restricted them from doing so.

When Flash 10.1 comes to Android, everyone thinks that Hulu is going to be a given. I think not. If Hulu is actively blocking Skyfire on Android, you seriously think that they won't just as quickly block the Android browser (or any other mobile browser for that matter)? Simple user agent spoofing (i.e. the browser pretending to be a desktop version) probably won't do the trick either (that's how Skyfire tried to circumvent the block), Hulu is smarter than that.

Anyone eagerly anticipating Hulu on their Android device with the release of Flash 10.1 better get ready for a long and drawn out game of cat-and-mouse involving some serious hackery, bootleg apps, and frequent outages.

And to those that say we don't need Hulu because we can just go to the individual network's site to watch a show, needs to actually look at all the non-network TV content Hulu offers.

 

[caustic]

I've seen a few websites that have a mobile version designed specifically so people can't view the content (one that I remember the mobile version talking about a subscription so that you could). I can look at these sites in their regular mode on my Droid, circumventing this. Obviously Hulu is putting more work into ensuring things don't work on mobile.

What I think it comes down to is, will Hulu be able to tell. Running in Desktop mode, those other websites were not able to distinguish me between a mobile and a desktop. Do the mobile browsers tell websites "hey this is Android, but we want to see non mobile" or does it, from a coding standpoint, not differ at all? The same thing about Flash 10.1. If it carries the info that you're coming from an Android device, Hulu will block it.