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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We have Naruto and plenty of other anime. Check out hulu.com/anime for our full lineup.
Does anyone know if hulu will start having Naruto episodes or any other cool anime?
Why must there be movie clips of movies not available? I never watch them and they dont get me to purchase any product. And by the way I use you because your service is free. Remember that you make your money on advertising. Please provide as much content as possible, That will make the site better, nothing else, please don’t assume anything else. I have used google since it’s beginning because they provided a great product then and they have continued to improve their services for their customers. Try to do the same.
This is 1 awsome site thanks for having it as im at this time have no tv. One show i dont and would love is the origanol Knight Rider. please see if you can get it. thanks again for a great site
i would just like to say that i like what you have done and you had a great idea for setting up the site. If possible see if you can get some anime such as Naruto on here it would appeal to teens and would help the growth of your site.
Thank you for Hulu…it is exactly the type of website that I imagine will stomp out network TV (which is bad anyways)…however I must submit feedback about the way the “commercials” play during movies…it kind turned me off. Like, one at the start and one at the end great, perhaps an animated watermark in the lower corner? Fine. But stopping during scenes…baaaad. And can we synch up the air dates? I mean, I know the networks don’t want to loose the edge, but can the lag time get lower? Oh, and is there any way to expand the collections? Like the entire Simpsons series? Oh, and Futurama? Please? I would pay for a premium membership to stuff like, that…if $$$ for royalties is the issue.
How often do the selections of movies and shows get changed? If this is all there is to this website what you have posted here to watch it’s unlikely i keep interest in coming here
Well, guys just want to say if “you” or the Network really plan to keep this going, the whole hulu.com thing.
You sould seriosly consider to put more current stuff online.
I mean some Shows dont even have any kind of episodes like “Futurama”, and other shows are just 2months old.
It is still running on tv like Bionic Woman or Terminator but our last video is moths ago.
Also movies at not that much on this page.
There are acutally a lot “illegal” sites online with a lot more stuff.
Really hope you going to do something about the “emtieness” of hulu.
best Ole
I was in on the Beta and was happy for months. Now that your open I get massive buffering issues, your video for the ads are fine (guessing those are served up by and ad service) but the video you have just stutters like no tomorrow. I suggest that you get a caching service like akimai or limelight. Its cheaper than having your own server and perfect for a site like yours.
Love the site.
You guys NEED to add the movie Idiocracy, or at least some clips. Everybody at our office loves that movie.
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?
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.
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!
Congratulations and thank you!
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.
You’re doing a great job! I’ve enjoyed my experiences watching movies and clips.
Suggestion: Try to get Babylon Five, and China Beach.
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!!
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.
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!
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.