You guessed it folks, it’s that time again – one more rousing rendition of “Hulu is going to offer a pay service”, this time as told by Peter Kafka of All Things Digital.
“Hulu Plus”, as Kafka has called it, would be an additional paid version of the website, not a paywall behind which all content would be hidden, and could be available to as many as 10,000 people starting early next week.
The new service would offer “access to a deeper catalog of shows than the free service currently offers, plus the ability to watch it on devices other than a laptop or PC, including Apple’s iPad”, as well as the Sony PlayStation for $9.95 a month.
As Kafka notes, the new service could help to assuage fears of network owners such as ABC and Fox, which have content on the site, that Hulu is cutting into their core business. The move, were it to succeed, could also prove that there are other ways (such as subscription models) to sell television content online that were more viable than mere advertising. Already, Viacom pulled the Daily Show and the Colbert Report from Hulu earlier this year because they weren’t earning enough through advertising.
According to the last time we wrote about rumors of a Hulu Plus, the five most recent episodes of current shows would be available for free, but older shows would require membership. Surely, Hulu would be doing more than this, right?
