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360 to get Hulu in next update

by on03 June 2010

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Will require Gold plus subscription fee

Sources are now confirming to us that Microsoft has a deal in place to start offering the Hulu streaming service for the Xbox 360. The Hulu streaming service will be integrated into the Xbox 360 dashboard in much the same way that Netflix currently is. With the success of Netflix streaming, the addition of Hulu streaming ahead of its console competitors could be big for Microsoft.

From what we understand, the Hulu streaming would work very much the same as the Netflix streaming does today. It would require that the user have an Xbox Live Gold account as well as a Hulu subscription account in order to gain access. The Hulu interface would be integrated into the Xbox 360 dashboard, allowing the users to browse and preview titles.

From the whispers that we hear, Microsoft has had the Hulu application up and running for quite a while now, but has been unable to get the content providers to sign off for the Xbox 360 because to this point the Hulu content has not been easily routed to a television screen, which is something that appears to the major concern for the content providers. Hulu’s new required subscription model solves this issue by requiring those that want to stream the Hulu content using the Xbox 360 to pay a premium fee to do so; this is said to address the concerns of network affiliates, cable providers and satellite providers who are already paying a fee for these channels and the programming on these channels to resell for display on a television device.

Microsoft will officially announce the Hulu support during their press conference at E3. It is expected that it will roll out in the next update, which fits into Hulu’s plans to offer a subscription model in addition to their free service. The ability to watch Hulu streaming content on a television rather than a computer screen will be big. The bigger question, however, is whether or not users will want to pay the required subscription fee.

Last modified on 03 June 2010
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