Veoh Hacks Hulu

Written by A. L. Friedman

Thursday, January 3. 2008 at 06:40 PM EST Post a comment

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Today, a PR rep from Veoh alerted us that online users of Veoh's video service can now watch entire episodes of content from Hulu, the joint venture between Fox and NBC.

This is interesting, on several levels. First of all, it looked like there might be some sort of syndication deal, which would be quite a coup for the upstart company. Instead, it turns out that Veoh just imported the video streams into its player.

The new "TV Shows" tab at the top of the Veoh homepage port the viewer to a section of the site loaded with full-length programming fromFox, NBC, USA, and F/X, as well as other sites in the Hulu network. The section also features content from CBS, which actually does have a deal with Veoh.

Hulu doesn't seem too concerned about Veoh streaming its content without a formal agreement. When asked about Veoh's streaming, the company responded with a statement from Hulu Corporate Communications' Christina Lee encouraging distribution. Lee also name-dropped AOL, MSN, Yahoo, MySpace, and Comcast, where the company syndicates its videos and shares some of the advertising revenue.

A spokesperson for Veoh assured me that the company took care to make sure all of the advertising stayed in. But even if it's legal, it doesn't exactly send a classy message. Grabbing Hulu's streaming code puts Veoh in the company of bootleg affairs like OpenHulu and TV Paradise. Is that the sort of company you want to keep?