REPORT: FREE HULU USERS FLEEING TO PIRATE SITES

Fox’s decision to make users of the free version of Hulu wait eight days before they can watch its shows on the video website has apparently backfired — sending them to pirate sites, according to TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent usage. The website, which said it saw a drastic decrease of TV-show piracy after the introduction of Hulu, reported on Monday that a surge of illegal downloading of the Fox shows Hell’s Kitchen and Master Chef. In the case of Hell’s Kitchen illegal downloads increased 114 percent; for Master Chef, 189 percent. Several of the illegal downloaders posted messages of thanks. Torrent Freak cited one of them: “You so rock and allowed me to keep my promise to my son. I promised if he cleaned for one hour he could watch Hell’s Kitchen with me. He was excited and then disappointed that we couldn’t watch it on Hulu or Fox.com. … Thanks a lot for uploading these, Hulu used to be my go-to but alas, they have failed me.”