The free Hulu you know, with the last five episodes of most sponsored shows available for streaming, with ads, will still exist. But Hulu looks to be pushing Hulu Plus, a $10 per month archive access plan, as early as late May.


That's according to the Los Angeles Times, which cites "people with knowledge of the plans" as saying that Hulu will offer access to the older episodes of many shows for $9.95 per month. No word on whether that access will also launch with support for streaming on certain devices, though there's already an Android phone purported to have a Hulu app, and an iPad app on the way, one that will presumably make use of that $9.95/month subscription plan.

Now that Hulu's got a plan to make money beyond an admittedly narrow advertising offering, perhaps the streaming service can ease back on restricting devices that only want to TV-size their content. A paid subscription at Hulu has been rumbled about for some time now, but by keeping the free access, Hulu has a chance to win over both casual oops-missed-Glee-last-night viewers, along with those who are eager to scale back, or entirely cut, their cable access.


Hulu pushes forward with $9.95 subscription service [Los Angeles Times via Gizmodo]