Popular online video web site Hulu has gained major traction in the past year, thanks in part to integration with popular, cutting edge apps like Boxee. As of Friday, Hulu on Boxee is no more.  as i had said on Twitter the other day;content providers should just stop providing content. after all, they dont want anyone to enjoy the content they provide.

Not least is the fact that, in relation to Hulu, technically speaking Boxee is just a web browser that happens to be optimized for a ‘ten foot’ or TV-like viewing experience rather than for when you’re sat directly in front of the PC. And crucially, since Boxee has yet to license its software to set-top box makers or build a box of its own, the only way to get Boxee content onto a TV is via a PC (aside from running Boxee on a hacked AppleTV). Once the PC is using the TV as its monitor, any content can be displayed on the television, including using a standard web browser such as Firefox, IE or Safari to access Hulu or any online video site. All Boxee has done is design a better browsing experience for when you’re sat further away. In other words, Boxee alone doesn’t enable Hulu to be viewed on the TV, it just makes it more convenient.

and apparently content providers hate things that make something convenient to the consumer…

What they’re afraid of, it seems, is that if television content online can be conveniently piped back to the TV, users may cancel their cable TV subscriptions or equivalents altogether.

its seems more and more “content Porviders” jump on the band wagon to offer media. well as soon as it becomes very popular these providers try their hardest to make it unavailable such as this post from engadget.

Option 1: Shows are available online via an easily accessible advertising revenue supported platform (eg: Hulu). People can watch the shows on their TV via Boxee or similar, or watch them in the browser on their computer. People use this due to ease of use. Content provider receives advertising revenue.

Option 2: Shows are only available online via a subscription service bundled with cable supplier or similar . Only people who can access it are those with the correct cable supplier, and is limited to the supplier’s choice of where they can watch it. Additional effort/cost is more than the additional effort involved in downloading from torrent sites or the like. Content provider gets decreasing revenue from the supplier, and no revenue relating to torrents.

Which is the better business case?