Hulu One Of The Top Inventions Of 2008
Nov 5th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Internet TV, Streaming Video, Video 
Time has selected its picks for the top inventions of 2008 and Internet video startup Hulu made the list, at #4.Â
About Hulu, Time notes:
When cable eventually dies, websites like Hulu will be held responsible.
Unlike YouTube and other amateur-video-upload sites, Hulu is a hub for network TV shows and movies: Hulu offers shows from nbc, Fox, pbs and other channels, including free full episodes of SNL, The Daily Show, The Office and other hits the TiVo-less masses often miss, plus films like Ghostbusters, The Fifth Element and Lost in Translation.
Created as a network-approved alternative to YouTube’s grab bag, Hulu was at first roundly mocked as a ham-fisted corporate knockoff of the grass-roots glory that is YouTube. (It was also mocked for its weird name.) Instead it proved that suits can play in the Internet video space too and that studio content can coexist online with the user-generated kind. In doing so, it delivered the final blow that untethered TV from that box in your living room.
Hulu’s a great site, and it challenges many of the assumptions people in new media had about Internet video.Â
Hulu is a tightly controlled, ad-filled, DRM’d Internet version of television – everything user-generated media isn’t.
And it’s a hit with both viewers and advertisers.
