Hulu vs. PS3 - The response

[EricJ]

E-mailed Hulu.com a while back, thinking the PS3 block was a "technical" problem (hah! )
It took them this long to respond, but at least we have what seems to be the official default press response:

Thanks for writing. In order to answer your question, some context might be helpful.

For decades, the TV/movie industry has built its business model on a windowing strategy. Content rights are granted for limited time periods across specific distribution channels. For example, a movie starts in theaters, then moves to pay-per-view and DVD, then to pay-cable channels, later to broadcast, and so on down the line. Similarly, TV shows are available on TV first, then in repeats, then to DVD and possibly syndication, etc.

Distribution availability across platforms -- theaters vs. TV vs. recorded media like DVDs vs. online streaming vs. mobile phones -- was always implicitly or explicitly controlled in that world. But a few factors have made the barriers between those platforms more permeable: the rise of the web, increased broadband availability, the ease of digitizing video, and the increase in the computing power of devices like gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and mobile phones.

However, in the near-term, the windowing strategy is still dominant in the
business. Billions of dollars flow in across these different windows, and entire
companies are organized around them. Nothing productive comes from flouting that reality (except to law firms who work on the occasional lawsuit).

We do, however, expect these windows to converge over time. There's no way around that, and we're working hard with all of our partners to guide and participate in this important transition in the business. Everything we do is with an eye toward achieving our long-term goal of maximizing the content you can access as conveniently as possible in a way that "works" for the content owner. In the short-term that may require us to make some tough decisions, but we only do so when we believe it improves our long-term prospects to build a more enduring, legal solution to that same problem.

We hear your frustration, and solving it remains our full-time job.
Thanks,

Rob
Hulu

...So there you have it:
As much as I can decipher, they don't seem to be clear on what a PS3 does, but since it's Neat-o Technical, they seem to be convinced we're using it to pirate downloadable content. (Foreign-access block aside.)

Somebody needs to talk.