1:46 A.M. – Launch!
In these short 18 weeks since we began private beta testing, we’ve been working hard to kick the tires and check under the hood in preparation of opening the doors to our site. With well over 10,000 pieces of user feedback, we’ve heard your suggestions, comments, criticisms and praise. Today we are excited to leave our private beta and open Hulu.com to everyone in the U.S.. Our streaming video service is free – anyone in the U.S. with a broadband internet connection and a computer can just press play to enjoy.
We’ve also made significant additions to our content line-up. With the help of over 50 top content providers such as FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony and Warner Bros., we’ve more than quadrupled the number of shows in our library, and on top of that, we’ve added 100 full-length movies. Hulu offers full-length episodes of not only current hit shows like The Simpsons and The Office but also classics like The Incredible Hulk, Miami Vice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in some cases, as with Arrested Development, Firefly, and Friday Night Lights, we have every episode ever aired. Our expanded library of full-length movies has something for everyone, from The Usual Suspects to The Big Lebowski, Me, Myself & Irene, Mulholland Drive and (one of my personal favorites) Three Amigos!.
While we’re excited about the progress we’ve made during the last 18 weeks, we are well aware that we’ve got a long way to go in our mission to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium content. As a frustrated media consumer myself at times, I know we still have much work ahead of us before we can confidently say that we are bringing all the great content that is out there to users on their terms. It won’t happen overnight, but I’m optimistic about the progress we’ve made so far and will continue to make. We’ll work closely with our content partners to bring you the best collection of premium videos on the web, and we’ll continue to develop and leverage technology to make media truly easy for you. Your feedback has been critical in shaping the Hulu service, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Jason
P.S. For a longer and more eloquent description of the kind of company we aspire to be and the kind of ragtag crew we are, check out the personal blog of Hulu’s own Eugene Wei. He has a way with words, that Eugene.
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For the most part this site is great with a few minor problems. For some shows, not all episodes are available. When trying to watch something I’ve never seen before this is a problem. Yesterday Seasons 2 and 3 of Bones were available, today all of a sudden they are gone. What happened?? Why were the episodes taken away?
Congratulations Hulu!
I read an article about you guys in Entertainment Weekly’s Spring TV Preview and immediately sprinted here, screeched on top of my lungs when I saw AIRWOLF listed (which is only like… my favorite show when I was a kid!!!) only to get my heart broken to pieces because all your content are viewable only to users located in the US???
Do you have any plans to open your doors to all of us TV junkies who are not located in the US? Please say you do. Pretty pwease?
I like it a lot, but you need to put every episode of every show online all the time. On-demand impulsiveness is what drives pirating, you can’t run this like a TV station and limit content. Great site, glad to see this stuff streaming legally.
Hi … looks good but is there a likelihood that you’ll be offering this service outside of the US?
In my case I’m thinking UK / Europe?
You know, a lot of videos on this site completely hang for awhile and refuse to play correctly, and it really annoys me.
And no, I know it’s hulu’s problem. How can I tell? Easy: the ads ALWAYS load quickly.
As a high school teacher, I see great potential in this site. It would be great if you could get more clips that could be used in the classroom, like The Simpsons’ versions of Poe’s The Raven or Shakespeare’s Hamlet. For me, it would be easy access and implementation of educational media; for the students, it would mean more clips shown in class; for you, mass publicity.
Please add closed caption or subtitle. It is already included on almost all DVDs. What is the problem not to put it on website? Thank you.
One more wish-for, now that beta is over: If possible, the old Chris Elliott Fox series Get A Life.
Enjoying hulu!
You guys seriously need to make this an AIR app this ROCKS!
I’d like to add my congrads too. I always believed that healthy competition raises quality, and from what I’ve seen and read so far, it looks like I’ll connected here alot more often. Thanks for introducing “Juno” to me….I had not the slightest clue it even existed until I watch that clip a few minutes ago, here on Hulu!…..U Rock!
Guys, great site & excellent selection (you’re leaving the VOD selection of my local cable provider in the dust already ;-). Hope this business model takes off. One question: are you planning to offer any foreign TV titles? Top of my wish list would be the UK show “Top Gear”
Thanks!
Whoa! Didn’t know this could be so addicting. I’ve been sitting here for 3 1/2 hours! Thanks for my pancake butt. Hey … If I could do anything to get the word around, let me know. Pancake Butts Unite!
when will be able to access / watch shows on hulu here in the philippines? I am getting the error that it is not allowed for viewing… hopefully we can view it here… thanks!
Congratulations and thank you!
How do I delete my account at Hulu?
This site seems really cool, but unforntunately, it is open to only US. people. I hope you will think about the canadians that watch the same shows in USA. Please give us the right to watch videos too!
This was awesome, but I don’t like the street magnum.
Why don’t you have Underfunded up on Hulu????????????????????????????
Homicide: Life on the Streets (all seasons, plus the series ending movie which still isn’t available on Netflix).
For those who’ve never seen it, Homicide was the best drama series on TV. In my opinion, the characters of Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) are the most complex, well-written and well-acted that have ever been on a television series.
While some seasons are better than others, and the show suffers after the departure of a key character, don’t skip any episodes and follow the series all the way through – trust me, it’s worth it.
If they don’t put it on Hulu, it’s worth getting a subscription to Netflix just to rent this – they have the entire series except for a series-ending special “movie” NBC allowed them to film after the series was cancelled which wraps things up – in true Homicide fashion.
Other than that – I can hardly wait until they load up everything in HD on Hulu. The trailers are awesome and I can definitely see myself getting totally hooked if we get all HD content.
We have HD at home on a 46″ screen, but we’re at the mercy of the cable company in terms of which HD channels we get, and what shows are available on demand. With Hulu and all HD content (yes, that’s right – ALL HD – we want the best!), I could easily forget about paying for all of those extra movie channels and convert to Hulu.
Love the sight. I haven’t watched video on my TV since the private beta started. You should look into improving the play list functionality so you can add shows you like and have it notify you when new episodes of those shows get uploaded. Also there used to be a “currently on air” symbol next to shows, it would be great if you could bring that back and add that as a search parameter when looking for recently added clips. So much video is being added on a daily basis now that its hard to search for specific new stuff.
hulu sucks all they have for free movies is 1970-1980 and they are the worst movies from 70s -80s http://www.movieforumz.com has movies that are from 2006-2008 they have movies like the mist-jumper and a lot more
You’re doing a great job! I’ve enjoyed my experiences watching movies and clips.
Suggestion: Try to get Babylon Five, and China Beach.
It does seem almost trivial to go on about HULU as you do, but it is totally restricted to use in the USA??? majot deals are made by both parent companies with other countries, but we can not watch any content.
kind of pointless!
i would really enjoy my favorite shows A LOT MORE IF IT DIDN’T SKIP!!!! this is so irritating i want to cancel it. how do i make it stop??
please help.
Love the site! Any chance of making a mobile version that would work on the iPhone and iPod touch? Even if it just worked over WiFi, that would still be really cool! Currently, it just tells me I need flash player 9. Here’s hoping!!
How the hell do I post a message to the “keepers” on this site (Hulu)? I’ve been around since beta, but damned if I can figure out how to post my own message. Shopkeepers…feel free to advise me at my email addy…
tane
I’ve been using your website since you started and I gotta tell you, I absolutely love it! When there’s nothing to see on regular TV, there’s always something good to watch here. Keep up the good work!
I love this site. I was on the privet verison and I have to say you guys have done a awsome job! I love the shows you have on actually I was hoping to get season 2 of bones up soon and maybe season 3 of buffy! You guys truely have me hooked I’m a fan of Hulu and never plan to leave!
Glad I found this site. I have been looking for the It Takes A Thief Series. One request….TV Series – T.H.E. Cat. Now that series is HARD to locate. I can’t find the shows theme music! What’s up with that?
BTW…LOVE THIS SITE.
A site such as hulu which restricts regions and cities does not deserve credit
I would love to see hard to get shows like “life goes on (warner Brothers show)” and “Street Hawk” I would use your service as my no 1 source for online tv. Also would love to see “magum P.I.”
Great stuff guys love this site!
please SUPPORT SLOVENIA with videos movies pls tomorow thx :) i want watch movie hope in good quality. hehe u will be hard concurents of YOUTUBE
Name of the Game, please. Especially the ep Spielbrg directed.
Overall love the site, the growing programming, the quality of the streams and the shortness of the commercial breaks – but I’m hoping you’re planning on building in some frequency caps on the commercials. Seeing just one commercial 5 or six times per show seems to be a dis-service to both the advertisers and the viewers.
Well it looks like theres something here for everyone. I’m sure this site will just get bigger and bigger. I look forward to the adding of more cult favs in movies and TV. Please get LOST on here as soon as possible! I’m not sure if all would agree with me. But in my opinion one if not the greatest shows to hit the small screen. Character and Mythology galore…
Great site ….. that said, what about adding Closed Captioning so the many millions of deaf people can also enjoy hulu.com? All these programs are already CC’d on DVD so what would be involved to adding a button on the side to turn on the captioning? Thank you for your ocnsideration.
I hope you will add sub-titled foreign movies and tv shows…
Love the site. Enjoying old favorites and new ones. Commercials are the bane of on air tv but yours are short to the point and, dare I say it, informative despite their brief display. Great job. I have GOT to get a bigger monitor!!!
i am so sorry to hear that it is available in my country,China.I wanna it will work soon in China.
Terrific site with excellent content!!!!
I would like to put in a request for a low bandwidth version of the site that would allow playback of content on lower bandwidth devices, like PDA’s, Nokia Internet Tablets, Smartphones, etc.
Thanks for your consideration.
Yes. Closed captioning, please!!!
DAN, you’re the man! This is an incredible site and seems like a great company to work for! However, the fact that I’m in Argentina right now means that I can’t watch ANYTHING on the site. It’s like a fly buzzing around my head, but I just can’t grab it (or something like that). Hasta luego.
Please (please please!) add Countdown w/Keith Olbermann to your lineup!
Gotta be honest, guys…stream quality has SERIOUZLY suffered since you went public. Let me know when you’ve added the infrastructure to actually support a public viewership, so I can return…til then, it’s back to the networks!
sMc
I want to add to the request for closed captioning.
I’m loving the site! Way too much time spent on the site. I need to get back to studying…
I have a question on the length of episodes. Many are around 21mins long. Were these originally this short? Or are these cut down versions of the original episode?
Keep up the good work team hulu!
I put together a website for my niece, embedding links to movies I thought she’d like. The website works properly here, but when she tries it she gets the message:
“Unfortunately this video is not currently available in our country or
region. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
She lives in Taiwan. All are your movies region locked? How can I tell in advance which movies she’ll be allowed to see?
Great site, I’m really enjoying watching some shows I haven’t seen in awhile :) Although I may be enjoying it a little too much.
Any chance of Invisible Man season 2? Pretty please?
Nobody is allowed to use it outside the US?
95% of the world population cant use it, thats sad…
Yep, I agree with Rick, a ton of buffering is going on, probably server overload.
Hello from Europe. I cannot watch a movie or episode. Is this only working in US? Incredible.
First off let me say i love your site it is amazing! One thing PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Make it compatible for the Iphone! Do you have any idea how many people would access this site on there iphone?! Come on seriously you have to do this, we both know the SDK is coming out so please just think of the possibilities. Till then here is hoping.
Peace
This is a pretty interesting idea, I hope it works!
Hey, is there a way to suggest a show to add?
I would LOVE to see “Strange Luck” again. As I remember the first season was fantastic!
J-
took little a young as proud I’d hoped exploring even rich flavor.
This needs to work on the Wii. I would be using this site much more often. Youtube works on the Wii. Why can’t this?
that is the deal with this crappy quality since release? lack of bandwidth on the server side? lots of “buffering”.
Great job! You are the first corporation to fulfill a big consumer need on the internet, instead of simply pulling all your content off of YouTube and then doing nothing about it. Your navigation and search is very user-friendly and easy to use.
Can you get Comedy Central on board with this? Their website is ugly, slow loading, and it’s impossible to find the episode you’re looking for.
Hi
Looks a good site with decent content but not available to anyone outside USA – why?? Any chance of it becoming available anytime soon? Hope so!
*sigh* Great to see it launched but still sucks that it is still only available to US residents.
Come on, get your act together and remember that people the world over would like to see this stuff.
We have over 500 proprietary special interest television programs, educational DVDs, classic westerns and television shows like AMOS & ANDY.
We sell thousands of special interest DVDs weekly to Amazon. People want them and cannot find them at Blockbuster, Hollywood or other video stores.
After 20 years in the special interest video business, we have been producing and acquiring proprietary titles and raising capital to upgrade our studios for new productions. We plan to produce new entertainment features, television programs and more special interest products to offer on DVDs and via downloading for a fee based business.
People seek educational products about careers, travel, cooking, health, fitness, basic education and hobbies. We have such diverse topics like Navy Seal Training, How to Make Sushi, Belly Dancing, Ballet and Piano lessons. These DVDs cover hundreds of subject such as languages, math, science, history, travel, dance, music, etc. The list is endless, the topics as varied as the people buying them.
We are selling thousands of DVDs weekly and so should you. With your coverage, you could be selling millions of DVDs per month.
And, with my help, you can get a head start on all the other major media firms who will be eventually looking for more than movies and TV shows as products to offer demanding customers.
I am able to offer Hulu hundreds of special interest title from A to Z immediately. Hulu should offer customers products for sale on DVDs and/or via a downloading service as a fee based business, too.
Those interested may contact me directly.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Special Interest home video industry veteran Bill Myers is now working on consolidation of the SI market. Currently offering over 20,000 titles
through http://www.videoactive.com – Bill recently launched a new business model with plans to capitalize at $250 million dollars in initial funding. Funds will be used to acquire currently available masters and licenses as well as engage in new film and television productions. Studio facilities are being sought in several locations geographically positioned within each continental region of the world. Content topics include more than 50,000 entertainment and special interest titles to be acquired or produced within three years.
Customers include the largest conventional distributors and resellers in the United States who are already active customers.
Incorporation of newer delivery methods such as social networking sites, retail websites and licensing arrangements for downloading content are a few but not all of the sales methods deployed.
For more information contact Bill Myers.
Email: bill@vdoaktv.net
Call: 800.927.2949.
CONGRATULATION!!
What a great accomplishment and what a great job the Hulu team has done. Continued success and thank you for the wonderful service.
I think that we need to launch a class action lawsuit against HULU as it will contribute to the total decline of productivity as we know it… as if our economy wasn’t in enough shape!
Seriously Well Done! The single best site for professional-grade programing to date…. the old shows (I dare anyone to look at News Radio and not get hooked…. rest in peace Phil Hartman), the movies are all worth the brief commercial trade-off. Hulu could single handedly save the TV business model. …
Now just get it working on x-360, playstation etc, HP Tvs etc. so we can really enjoy it all the way it was supposed to be seen.
Thank you HULU. It was worth the wait
All this stuttering is driving me crazy. How do I make it stutter less?
All this stuttering is driving me crazy. How do I make it stutter less?
Dear Hulu: I am a creative director who used to be a fan of your old design aesthetic. While your content offer is fantastic, your new design treatment are less than the “best practice” that I thought your flat scaled back design was. There used to be such a light treatment that the video’s spoke for them selves. Now the UI is cluttered with design aesthetic void of affordance. Please revert :)
Really enjoy your site. Love the old tv shows like Time tunnel and Lost in space. made aware of you folk by a hockey blogger said you will be providing NHL clips. I do not like the NBA, really boring stuff. What can you do for me and millions of puck fans online
thanks
Denny
Hello. I just signed up a few minutes ago after examining the place a bit. I am really really appreciative of what you guys are doing, and it gives me comfort to know that this is a legitimate website. It’s nice to be able to back and recommend something totally legal. I am more of a movie guy than a TV guy, but I’m considering Arrested Development, since everyone I’ve ever talked to about it loves it. And the movie selection is actually pretty good so far (Requiem for a Dream? The Big Lebowski? Awesome). I look forward to seeing it expand.
I’m excited to have joined at the very beginning of what I expect to be a very popular and well-known site in years to come. It will be fun watching this competent but newly-created site growing up before my very eyes. Once more, thank you deeply for your incredible services and good luck in all that you do.
I read about Hulu in Fortune magazine.
I check it out and every single show I try to watch is not available in my region.
I’m in Europe.
This is the internet,guys. It’s “www”, for “world wide web”.
Fantastic improved website. Well Done.
The main problem though is that it’s not available to the UK!!!!
Please can you sort this problem out as this can only improve and get better viewers to your website from the UK region.
Neat, but I want support for playing on PS3. It would be really could if we could play on PS3 and top of that we could do a remote play and watch your video’s via remote play on our PSP anywhere in the world. That would be cool.
Why Hulu is U.S.only?
Hey… I love Hulu! The site is very good…
Only problem is… I can’t watch any of the videos still… I am not living in the USA. Maybe you should make it available all over the world.
Crazysah
Thanks Hula
I love the service and I now can enjoyed streamed movies and shows. I think you guys need to add more movies, and that your model will be a sucess. I have know prlbems with commericals at all! Thank Again, but you really need more feture films!
After reading all the comments here, there isn’t much I can add about the technical pluses and minuses, as they’ve already been covered. So I’ll just say that for someone who loved watching a four similarly sexy and magnificent women on a cable channel, for the entirety of it’s run, I’m finding myself becoming a fan of “Lipstick Jungle”. I love strong women, and I’m currently married to an equally georgeous, fabulously strong woman. I loved the first six episodes posted and look forward to seeing the series grow, just like this site. Though I haven’t the time in my daily life, yet, to watch the all other programs you have cataloged, I’m so addicted to this site now that I’m sure I’ll get to them all some point. Thanks for making it possible to view the programs I’ve come to enjoy over the years, and for the ones I’ve come to look forward to with great anticipation. I look forward to seeing them in Hi-Def. Great work, thanks again.
Is ok your page , but i can not to see any program and movie , i don’t why please help me i want enjoy your hard job.
Make this great site compatible with the WII therwise known as flash 7
PS3
Will this site ever work in Euroe in Latvia? Pleas say yes! I wanna watch thous shows too!:)
I really love your site.. You can’t say anything wrong with it. Keep up the great job, and try to continue to make improvements.
Just a suggestion, can you make it possible to have new release movies on Tuesday.. just like you see in the Stores and Video stores. That sure to bring in more viewers. It doesn’t have to be new- it could be like you see in REDBOX.
I think it sucks that Hulu only offers there services to people physically in America. I hope a bunch of people save the videos and distribute them to the rest of us world travellers for free. hehehe.
Hey guys! I can’t tell you how much I love HULU! I spent yesterday catching up on Lipstick Jungle! All 5 episodes I was behind! lol
One suggestion I would like to make, and i’m sure it’s probably already coming, looking at the genres section I didn’t see Gay and Lesbian. Again i’m sure it’s probably in the works sooner or later! Keep up the great work!
~Leeston
This sounds like an excellent idea. However, I’d strongly suggest the idea of being able to actually download the episodes. That way, a person could watch the episodes without worrying about skipping or stopping. The problem with streaming is that you can only have a chance at watching when you have a world class connection with a state-of-the-art computer system. There’s nothing worse than trying to watch ANYTHING, only to have it skip, or stop. It’s better to have never tried to watch the thing at all. Also, a complete selection of ALL episodes, of EVERY season, for a particular show, is very important. No one likes to only be able to see a portion of something they truly enjoy. The hit television show “24″ is an excellent example. I can live with the commercials. After all, I’d see the same thing if I were to watch it on television. It’s a good trade-off for being able to watch it for free. However, if the episode doesn’t play as seamlessly as television, I probably wouldn’t want to watch it at all. For this reason, being able to download, is critical.
Please post more TV Episodes and Movies !
HI I am from Hong Kong and find to my disappointment that this site is not available for viewing here. Why this bias? What did we do bad outside the USA that we are being punished? It should not be that difficult for you to let us watch all the stuff, that USA people can watch. Lets hope you open this site to the public of the world – if you are scoping to let the USA peopl watch the entertainment of the world you must let the world watch too…
Why is not available outside the U.S ?
All in all a fantastic site. I only have one complaint. Can you please adress the lack of diversity in your news and politics content? When I searched under genre, Bill O’reilly’s talking points showed up twice. What about countdown with Keith Olbermann or _something_? MSNBC has a lot of content, but it’s all chopped up into tiny clips that don’t have any relationship with each other.
Love the new HULU site, wish it worked on my PS3 so that I could actually watch this content somewhere other than my laptop :-(
Shame that YouTube is the only site that can send video to my PS3
I concur with the others (Matt) …. get HULU on the PS3 so we can really watch TV where it should be …on the TV and not on a computer monitor. Do what ever you can to get Abode to release a fix.
Adding my voice to the commenters who’ve already mentioned the lack of closed-captions and/or subtitles. If HULU is truly “all about an awesome viewer experience”, the basic lack of readily available accessibility options is a glaring oversight.
Please address this fundamental user issue *before* you worry about making HULU compatible with every flavor of portable media player out in the wild world of tech.
I look forward to using and enjoying HULU…… eventually.
i am from palma de mallorca, its a iland from spain, i live here for 16 years, but i am dutch.
I saw your publicity in a spanish newspaper, but now my problem is that i cannot see a movie or whatever because it says that its unavaileble for other countrys, can you help me with this, thank you, arnold
Great site! Suddenly my Saturday afternoon has disapeared watching all these shows. Don’t suppose “Greg the Bunny” would be showing up anytime soon? Can’t find it on DVD would love to watch it here!
Thanks!
Why not share this with the rest of the world? Its called world wide web for a reason…..
the expanded list of shows and episodes is really great.
but. i’ve been seeing all over that you have every episode ever aired of arrested development. where is season 3 episode 7- Prison Break-In???
You really should get an Opera/Flash 7 compatible version so people can view on the Wii. Or make a deal with Nintendo for a special channel.
I wish hulu was available outside US. Will it launch for non US soon??
Good job, although, you have any word as to when hulu will be available for Canucks to watch?
Good job. Long-time user and fan here, but I agree with Desidirius. For months now, if I wren’t logging-in to watch something specific, I’d scroll back through the “Recently Added” to see what shows or episodes were new. A terrific example of the usefulness of this feature was after I had worked my way through all of the NewsRadios, then suddenly a week or two later, you filled-in one of the gaps. The current “Recently Added” could possibly serve one of my purposes, as long as you don’t add more than five or six shows between my log-ins (couldn’t you link a full list), but I’d also appreciate a reincarnation of the old format because then I could catch when you add to a show’s existing lineup.
I love the new look, added video content, and most of the other changes you made when you went from beta to public. But why can’t we leave feedback anymore? I’ve still got a few suggestions I’d love to make (as well as a few complaints about minor bugs); and I’m sure that other viewers do, too.
Tried to access multiple shows and movies. ALL were blocked as not available in this region. Great to see the forward thinking that is going into denyiny citizens the ability to access your product overseas. Will keep looking to see if anyone can provide something similar.
Bring back the “Recently Added” listings, please.