Hello, Hulu

I recently received an invite to the private beta of NBC and News Corps joint venture in online video, Hulu.

So far, I’m pleasantly surprised, though not overwhelmingly, and I spent several hours late in the night watching Kitchen Nightmares on Sunday.

The site itself is simple and sleek, and the video quality is pretty nice.

But right now, there are two big issues:

First, and most problematic, is the limited selection. With only Fox and NBC signed on at the moment, there is a lot of TV programming missing in action. For currently-running shows, episodes are kept for only a limited time, which means that as of right now, there’s no way to watch the first or second episode of the season for shows like The Office or Heroes or (ugh) K-Ville. This is annoying, but becomes extremely problematic if you decide to embed a video on your blog. After a few weeks, it will expire.


Second, there’s no way to take these episodes elsewhere. I can’t watch them on my iPhone, or a Zune, or on my laptop while on a plane (or in some other off-the-grid location). If NBC or ABC or anyone truly want to take on iTunes, they need to provide a real alternative to the super-easy method Apple has devised for making content mobile. Until this happens, a site like Hulu is little more than another (admittedly legal) way to watch episodes online - something you can already do on dozens of sites.

I’ll keep my eye on this site, though. It’s much better than what the major networks have offered in the past, and has much more potential.