Hulu-like alternative for Canadians?

[sudoer541]

is there a Hulu-like alternative for Canadians?

[Grant A.]

Well, most modern T.V. stations that don't have a Murdock running them provide T.V. shows online for free. I know that NBC does this in the U.S.

[Chronon]

I believe that the networks restrict access to viewers in their own countries.

[Jesus_Valdez]

Legal alternatives?

[SunnyRabbiera]

Legal alternatives?

Screw legal, thats what I say.

[schauerlich]

Screw legal, thats what I say.

But the GPL should always be enforced, right?

[CJ Master]

Screw legal, thats what I say.

Prison food tastes good.

[rb0171610]

Prison food tastes good.So using an anonymous proxy to view Hulu.com in Canada will land you in prison? It is not a punishable offense. At issue here are broadcast rights. Hulu does not have rights to broadcast television shows in Canada, because it would be unfair to Canadian broadcast companies that are losing advertising revenue. People are not going to prison for finding access to broadcast streams not intended for their region.

[schauerlich]

So using an anonymous proxy to view Hulu.com in Canada will land you in prison? It is not a punishable offense. At issue here are broadcast rights. Hulu does not have rights to broadcast television shows in Canada, because it would be unfair to Canadian broadcast companies that are losing advertising revenue. People are not going to prison for finding access to broadcast streams not intended for their region.

I believe the post he quoted implied one should just torrent shows if Hulu doesn't work for you.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I believe the post he quoted implied one should just torrent shows if Hulu doesn't work for you.

Yeh anymore I say this, nation boundries only encourage BS nonsense like this...
These vids should be worldwide, its the bloody internet.
The more I see crap like hulu the more I support net pirates, sorry.

[Dr. C]

Legal alternatives?

The actions of the studios need to be challenged in areas such as anti competitive activity (violations of the Competition Act) and discriminatory activity (violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms). They need to learn that deliberatively fragmenting the market is a non starter.

A good place to start is region encoding for DVDs and Blu-ray disks that allows English Speaking Canadians to import and view DVDs and Blu-ray disks from the United States but prevent French Speaking Canadian from doing the same since all members of the Francophonie outside of Canada are in a different DVD and Blu-ray region from that of Canada. Once can continue with issues such as the mandate in the Blu-ray specification that Blu-ray players may not be produced with analogue (composite, S-video and component after December 2013) effectively making millions of television sets, stereo amplifiers, projectors, computer monitors etc obsolete. Another issue is DRM used to protect a monopolist with over 95% of market share from competition.

Write to your member of parliament to oppose any DMCA style copyright legislation in Canada. This is critical since DRM is used to allow the studios to fragment the market. If Canadians want a Hulu-like alternative we have to fight for it.

[sudoer541]

wow wow wow, you guys went waaaayyyy oftopic here!...calm down!:)
Yes I am looking for legal alternatives off course.
I am not looking for torrents and P2Ps etc....just a hulu equivalent for Canadians.

[rb0171610]

wow wow wow, you guys went waaaayyyy oftopic here!...calm down!:)
Yes I am looking for legal alternatives off course.
I am not looking for torrents and P2Ps etc....just a hulu equivalent for Canadians.
We did not go way off topic, we are debating the legalities regarding your question. This is, after all, the community cafe. That being said, you are searching online for a Hulu-like alternative for Canadians. You felt the best place to do that was . . . Drum roll please . . .
The Ubuntu forums?
Try searching Google or ovguide.com instead.

[Dimitriid]

Look, asking someone to break their country's law, even if its the most stupid law ever conceived, its a big leap of faith. Specially when the question was not asked in a political forum but in a techie one.

If we are talking ideology here, and you really dislike having to sneak around to overcome some silly restriction, the best legal way to proceed here is to do what will hurt the responsible parties the most: do not watch their shows at all, in any form.

Watching overrated programs and shows will accomplish nothing, just get a book or a different hobby, watch independent film since you are lucky enough to leave in a country with reasonable access to small theaters that actually show such alternative cinema.

You'll be much better off and with enough people it will be the quickest way to change those draconic policies.

[rb0171610]

Look, asking someone to break their country's law, even if its the most stupid law ever conceived, its a big leap of faith. Specially when the question was not asked in a political forum but in a techie one.

If we are talking ideology here, and you really dislike having to sneak around to overcome some silly restriction, the best legal way to proceed here is to do what will hurt the responsible parties the most: do not watch their shows at all, in any form.

Watching overrated programs and shows will accomplish nothing, just get a book or a different hobby, watch independent film since you are lucky enough to leave in a country with reasonable access to small theaters that actually show such alternative cinema.

You'll be much better off and with enough people it will be the quickest way to change those draconic policies.Or just whine about it in the Ubuntu forums. :)

[CJ Master]

Or just whine about it in the Ubuntu forums. :)

The OP asked a simple question. There was no whining from him.

[sudoer541]

The OP asked a simple question. There was no whining from him.

Thank you! :)

[thegreenblob]

Does joost (http://joost.com) work in Canada? It's kinda like hulu, don't think they have as much content though.

[Chronon]

Good call. It does appear that way from a quick Googling.

Joost definitely doesn't have as much content, but they still have a pretty good selection of media to watch for free. They seem a bit more oriented toward music videos and such, but they do have quite a few shows and some movies also.

[sudoer541]

No, Joost has very ltd content.
I cant wait to upgrade to 9.10 to use VLC for shoucast channels.
btw my ubu is broken.