And, just like that, Hulu Plus has come of age. The popular online video catch-up site yesterday 
said it would be available--to an invitation only audience, right now--on some Samsung, Sony and Vizio connected TVs and Blu-ray players, on Macs and PCs, on Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PS3 and on the iPhone and iPad.
Hulu Plus will be available for $9.99 a month, as an ad-supported subscription service to offer full current season runs of hit TV programs from ABC, FOX and NBC across multiple Web-connected devices, in HD.
Subscribers will have access to shows like Glee, Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock and The Office to classics such as The X-Files, Arrested Development and Ally McBeal, and will see the same ad load as Hulu's free version, and will have to wait a day for catch-up episodes to post.
Users can request an invite to the private beta here, or download the iPad app here.
The joint venture between NBC Universal, Disney and News Corp. has been riding a wave of rumors since last December that it would launch a premium service this year, and also had been rumored to be considering an iPad app in the month leading up to the launch of the Apple tablet in April. The new service will broaden Hulu's appeal.
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar yesterday wrote on the company's blog: "Hulu Plus is not a replacement for Hulu.com. Hulu Plus is a new, revolutionary ad-supported subscription product that is incremental and complementary to the existing Hulu service. For almost all of the current broadcast shows on our service, Hulu Plus offers the full season. Every single episode of the current season will be available, not just a handful of trailing episodes."
For more:
- see this blog post
- see this article
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