The New York Times cites four people briefed on the matter as saying that they 'believe' Hulu may test a subscription approach to its catalog of streaming TV shows through the forthcoming app, which wasn't given a release date.
A joint venture of NBC Universal, the News Corporation and the Walt Disney Company, Hulu has seen its ad-supported, browser-based streaming service generate revenues of more than $100 million and triple monthly streams to 903 million over the past year.
But this success has caught the attention of many of Hulu's content suppliers who are now pressuring the company to increase their share of the revenues and open doors to better monetization techniques, such as a subscription service that asks consumers to pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to a broad assortment of shows.
Apple held similar aspirations in the lead-up to this weekend's iPad launch but was forced to table its own
The networks were reportedly weary of the strategy, fearing it could ultimately hurt their business and jeopardize "the tens of billions of dollars in subscription fees they are paid by cable and satellite companies for their traditional TV networks."
Rumors of Hulu's plans for the iPad have been brewing for months ever since the company was reported to be developing an Apple-friendly version of its website that would operate without the need for Adobe's Flash video format, which isn't supported on Apple's mobile devices.
25 Comments
Forget it. The best thing about Hulu is that it is free!
Forget it. The best thing about Hulu is that it is free!
I agree.
But I do believe that a combiation of reasonably priced (Hulu subscription) and convenient (iPad) could go a long way.
I'm not sure if $30 / month qualifies as reasonably priced to enough people--certainly not while Hulu on the desktop/laptop is still free.
Netflix for the iPad.
$8 a month all you can stream, TV shows and movies.Steve Jobs would have a fit.
Echoing Steve Ballmer anti-Google rant mode: "I'm going to kill Netflix"
Netflix for the iPad.
$8 a month all you can stream, TV shows and movies.Steve Jobs would have a fit.
Not if it was helping to sell iPads he wouldn't..
Now I may have a reason to get the VGA adaptor...