Hulu Officially Launches $9.99 Subscription Service, App For iPhone, PS3 Soon

Finally all of the rumors and speculation can be put to rest. Hulu just announced on their blog that starting today, users can sign up for an invite to Hulu Plus for $9.99 a month. The company plans to offer the service via invitations to start so they can "ensure we’re offering the best experience." In addition to the PC viewing, Hulu also announced that Hulu Plus streaming will be available to iPhone and iPad users, including over 3G, and that support for more devices including the PS3 are on the way. Users of select Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players can also download a Hulu app for the plus service and I'm hearing that deals with more TV manufactures are on the way.

As I wrote about previously, no one would be willing to pay Hulu ten bucks a month considering the video quality on Hulu.com is so poor so it's no surprise that the company also announced that Hulu Plus members will have access to native HD content content in 720p. Hulu Plus gives subscribers access to lots of back catalog of TV shows including things like ten seasons worth of Law and Order SVU and plenty of other content. Hulu has a short video explaining what Hulu Plus is all about on their blog.

The real question is whether or not consumers are going to be willing to pay ten bucks a month for this kind of service. No one knows for sure, but one that is clear is that this is not going to have any negative impact on Netflix, so lets just hope we don't have to now read tons of posts by folks talking about how Hulu Plus is going to some how kill off other video services in the market.

Update: Microsoft just announced Hulu Plus will launch on the Xbox 360 in early 2011.