For Boxee CEO, Hulu Desktop Brings Hope

By Jun. 4, 2009, 10:30am PT 12 Comments

Given the sometimes contentious public relationship between the two companies, we were curious to find out what Boxee CEO Avner Ronen thought of Hulu‘s recent launch of its desktop app. Sure, we read his response via Boxee’s corporate blog — but what did Ronen and Co. really think?

We cornered Ronen at the Connections Conference to find out what kind of fist-shaking went through Boxee HQ the day Hulu broke the news. Ronen is not one to shy away from public debate, but his attitude was downright congenial towards Hulu during our talk.

While Ronen was surprised by Hulu’s move, he said it was a good surprise since it basically validates the lean-back experience Boxee has been working on; and if Hulu has bought into the 10-foot browsing, maybe other media companies will, too. Ronen holds out hope the two can mend fences. (Hopefully, he’s not holding his breath.) Check out Ronen’s full thoughts on Hulu’s desktop app in the video below, as well as the new TV-friendly browser YouTube launched this week.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.