Hulu whips up its own DRM to block people from watching videos outside browsers

Hulu is reportedly attempting to keep out the non-browser based watchers by implementing its own form of DRM with JavaScript, but the trick didn't work for long as media center applications have already been updated.

Because of the sudden popularity of solutions like Boxee and MCE, and the related displeasure they caused content providers, streaming television service Hulu has been cat-and-mousing with third parties in the way that typically ends in legal action.

First, Hulu amicably divorced itself from the Boxee platform at the behest of the content studios. Then Boxee discovered a simple workaround, which caused Hulu to change its RSS feed structure. Now, because it is in Hulu's interest to keep viewers in a place where they know the advertisements will be served properly (i.e. the browser), the site has been changed yet again.

To make sure the service's videos are viewed in a browser only, Hulu is now encoding the HTML character stream as it flows into the browser, and using JavaScript to decode it on the client side. The converted plaintext is then rendered as DHTML in the browser window.

While this yet again blocks Hulu from media center programs like Boxee, a service like ZeeVee's Zinc 3, which is either a Mozilla-based standalone media browser, or a Firefox plugin, is in the clear; and TunerFreeMCE, whose designer discovered this new trick in the first place, has already devised a workaround.

The whole conflict is caused by studios who wish to keep closer control over their properties in this setting. An executive from NBC Universal, one of Hulu's parent companies, spoke about this issue yesterday at Cable Show '09. Bonnie Hammer, President of Cable Entertainment and Cable Studio at NBCU said, "We don't want to put our whole lineup on the Web, but as long as you're careful, its additive. If you don't allow [consumers online access] they steal it, so you have to provide it legally."

Provide it to them legally, but don't provide them too much. Because Internet-delivered programming has the power to devalue the TV advertising dollar, content is meted out in manageable doses.

Advertisers want to be where the consumption is taking place, and when it is taking place on the Internet, there is less profit to be made. Therefore, the studios attempt to limit the consumption of media on the Internet enough to keep advertisers from abandoning their higher-value TV ads in favor of those on the internet, while also providing enough content to reach the growing online audience.

It's a delicate balance, and third parties like Boxee and MCE have been throwing a wrench in the nascent online efforts by building utilities to view content while bypassing the provider's website.