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Why Hulu blocked all mobile devices

July 10, 2009

Hulu has officially blocked all Smartphone access to the website. Even though the last supported device, Microsoft Windows Mobile users with Skyfire cannot block any advertising (yes all of us were watching Hulu ads at the bus station prior to the shows).

The problem is Hulu realized that they have no way of knowing whether Skyfire users coming through the US servers are actually in the US and since they are not allowed to let people outside the US watch their videos they decided to block all of Skyfire, and all mobile devices for that matter.

The Apple iPhone was never supported, nor was any other platform other than Windows Mobile Device using a browser called Skyfire, earlier this week (on or about July 3ed) all screens went dark with an error message stating “Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

This actually is a dark milestone, it means that Hulu has now blocked all mobile smart phones from the website. There is no work around yet at this time.

Many people (such as myself) have actually bought a Windows Mobile phone rather than an iPhone for this sole reason. Whenever I am in a train or passenger of an auto, I fired up Skyfire to watch Hulu.

Even though I am located in the US, Hulu cannot tell since all the traffic is routed though Skyfire servers via a proxy, and if was in Mexico or the UK the same would apply, it’s all routed though the US servers… so Hulu cannot tell if all that US based traffic is actually coming from the US.

The only way to get this to work as per our sources in Hulu would be for Skyfire to block all non-US users. This is actually being considered by Skyfire. Other options would be to offer a US and non-US version of Skyfire.

The reason is Hulu is the main driver for Skyfire’s growth… without Hulu access, Skyfire lost it’s main competitive advantage.

Story is developing, expect some major blockage for all non-US users from being able to use Skyfire.

Written by TheFounder · Filed Under Advertising Agency News 


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