Hulu App Coming to iPad, Subscription Planned (Unconfirmed)

In a report by the New York Times posted on March 31, 2010, Hulu’s Chief Executive, Jason Kilar, is quoted on a couple of aspects regarding the company’s future content-distribution plans. Those, according to the report, include an iPad application, in what would be Hulu putting out feelers to see if the model proves successful.

One thing Hulu has been successful at is bringing the TV into the mainstream, the NY Times report notes. Now, the company appears to aim higher, “beyond standard computer screens with an application for Apple’s iPad,” according to four people briefed on Hulu’s plans.

Although Kilar would not say a word about such plans, he did reveal that, “Our mission is to help people discover the world’s premium content, and we believe that subscriptions can help to unlock some of that, including sports and movies and premium cable shows.” “We’re certainly open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.”

He added, “Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office.” According to the report in question, Kilar said that, “[Tablets] allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house.” It is revealed that people briefed on Hulu’s plans believe the company is set to test the subscription approach by introducing an iPad application. “They could not say when such an application might be available,” the piece read.

A website offering commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC, and many other networks and studios, Hulu provides videos only to United States residents. It blocks many anonymous proxies and virtual private networks, in order to ensure that no international users outside the US have access to the videos.

Video is delivered in Flash Video format, and provides web syndication services for the likes of AOL, MSN, MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Comcast's fancast.com. Since Hulu relies on Flash, an iPad app will need to undergo optimization, just like the iPhone’s YouTube app, in order to enable the device to play the content that would otherwise be accessible only to Flash-capable platforms.