A sudden unannounced disappearance of Hulu content from CBS-owned TV.com Tuesday has left viewers mystified and the media speculating as to the intentions and future plans of the two companies.
And Hulu also announced Wednesday that come Friday, it will be removing content from the social viewing platform Boxee as well at the request of its content providers.
"While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence — bumps and all — we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners," writes Hulu CEO Jason Kilar.
In the post he says he recognizes that the Boxee community will likely be upset with the decision and that there is "no immediate win" for users.
CNet is reporting that Hulu also removed the videos from TV.com which are still being promoted on the site, but it provided a very vague statement in response.
"Hulu has contractual rights with regards to our relationship with TV.com and we are exercising those rights. Out of respect for their confidentiality, we will not disclose our discussions," a Hulu spokesman told Wired.com.
Hulu, founded in March 2007 in a partnership between NBC Universal and News Corp., has a number of syndication agreements in addition to TV.com with sites like AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo.
But lately TV.com lately seems to be branching out on its own.
It was taken over by CBS last year when it purchased CNet for $1.8 billion, and it recently revamped the site with new content partners including PBS, Sony and MGM.
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has said that there is a place for both Hulu and TV.com to be successful, but reinforced TV.com’s potential to investors back in December.
“We think TV.com will become the destination, or certainly one of the leading destinations, for anybody who wants to watch TV shows or have a community around TV shows, see clips, play games, etc,” he said.
AdAge is reporting that agreements granting exclusive rights to NBC and News Corp content are nearing an end, and that TV.com might be looking to make some deals of their own.
Aside from have a much more universally recognizable URL, TV.com has more unique visitors at 5.9 million compared to Hulu's 4.5, reports AdAge. But Hulu has quickly been making its way into the mainstream ranking 3rd in video streams behind YouTube and Yahoo according to Nielsen VideoCensus, and it even broadcast its first television commercial during the Super Bowl.
CBS did not respond to our request for comment.
Boxee, on the other hand, says it will fight to get Hulu back on on board.
"Our goal has always been to drive users to legal sources of content that are publicly available on the Internet. We have many content partners who are generating revenue from boxee users and we will work with Hulu and their partners to resolve the situation as quickly as possible," writes Boxee’s CEO Avner Ronen.
