Hulu Said to Launch Subscription Service Next Week

Hulu has proven very popular in the US, where it is available, having become the second most popular video website in the country. With viewership still on the rise and the joint venture starting to do well financially, by video site standards, rumors of a planed subscription service have been abundant for almost a year now. Those plans are finally close to being finalized, several reports claim, with the subscription trial coming as early as next week.

Things may still change, but if everything goes smoothly, about 10,000 people will have the opportunity to try out the new service tentatively dubbed Hulu Plus. For $9.95 a month, users would get access to more shows and episodes than what’s already available for free on Hulu and the service will also be available on devices other than regular PCs, notably the media darling, the Apple iPad.

This last part is an important one as Hulu, which is after all just a website, has been adamant in blocking devices other than PCs from accessing the service. Set-top box makers, like Boxee, have waged a war with Hulu that has blocked each attempt to make the service available trough their devices. Hulu’s media owners don’t want people watching it on their TVs, unless they’re prepared to pay extra for it.

The subscription would allow users to access the site from various gizmos including the iPad and possibly the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 game consoles.

Apparently, the stake holders, General Electric, NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney, are still ironing out the final details with regards to the catalogue that will be put on offer. This may cause the rollout to be pushed back.

Hulu is said to already be profitable from the ad it places on the site. It seems on track to make $200 million in revenue this year, not a small sum for a video site, but nothing like what TV companies have been traditionally making. This is what drives the push for subscriptions. It remains to be seen how successful the plans will prove and how Hulu would influence similar services in other countries.