Hulu Plus comes with expanded content and $9.99 monthly fee

by Stevie Smith - Jun 30 2010, 10:02

In a bid to monetise its existing business model while offering customers access to improved content, online video provider Hulu (which is owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and Disney) has officially expanded beyond the support of ad revenue to introduce Hulu Plus, a new subscription-based premium service.

Described as: “More wherever. More whenever. Than ever,” by Hulu, online users willing to commit to a monthly fee of $9.99 USD will be able to watch complete seasons of popular TV shows such as Glee, 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family and The Office in 720p high definition.

Subscription customers will also be granted access to the entire back catalogues of other cult shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files – both of which are not available through the free Hulu portal.

Interestingly, the new subscription service will still retain the same number of accompanying (and annoying?) adverts as the free version of the site, a decision apparently taken by Hulu in order to help keep the monthly fee to a minimum.

Also, content will not play in real time, meaning subscribers won’t be able to watch new episodes of their favourite shows until the morning after they’ve played on cable, satellite or over-the-air.

Those feeling drawn to Hulu’s platform should also bear in mind that its content coverage is only spread across shows from ABC, NBC and FOX. Shows from the likes of CBS, Time Warner and Viacom are all conspicuous by their absence.

Hulu’s subscription-based content is presently available via 'Preview Invite' on computers, software apps designed for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, and select Samsung Blu-ray players and televisions.

The service is expected to arrive on Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Sony Blu-ray players and televisions in the near future – with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 set to follow in early 2011.

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