It's Official: Hulu's Coming to Xbox Live

[vansau]

It's Official: Hulu's Coming to Xbox Live

Hulu Plus is not only coming to Microsoft's console, but it's going to be free for a week.

It's been a long time coming, but <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109625-Rumor-Hulu-Plus-for-the-Xbox-Coming-April-29>hot on the heels of rumors about Hulu Plus coming to the Xbox 360, it's now been confirmed that the service is going to be appearing on the console. Oh, and, guess what? It's starting up tomorrow.

The best part about this, though, is that Jack Link's Beef Jerky is unlocking Hulu Plus for Live users for a week, from April 29th through May 6th. The sponsorship will be available for all Xbox 360 owners, regardless of their type of Live membership they have. If users want to pony up the $7.99 monthly fee for the service afterwards, they'll be able to watch current seasons of TV shows from channels like ABC, Comedy Central, Fox, NBC, and MTV, as well as classic movies from the Criterion Collection.

Up until now, I've been avoiding Hulu Plus, mainly because I don't use the site often enough to justify another subscription in my life. However, being able to stream commercial-free episodes of my favorite shows on my Xbox is suddenly a lot more appealing. You can bet that I'll be taking part in the free trial.

Source: <a href=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Live/Hulu-Plus/Home>Xbox


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[AvsJoe]

Will Hulu be available for Canadian gamers?

 

[Radeonx]

This is interesting.
If I didn't have Netflix, I'd be all up on this, but I'm not going to add another $8 a month to my bills for a few extra TV shows that I might not even watch.
Still, I'll enjoy the free trial.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

A week of free high quality TV...yeeessssssssss

 

[Porygon-2000]

You know what'd be nice? An australian realease (or anywhere else that's not in north america, for that matter). Yes, I gripe, but it still gets to me that all this content is being withheld from me because of my choice in country.

 

[drbarno]

Will hulu be available in the UK through this (seeing as my experience with hulu is frustration of it only being available in america and annoyance that the uk doesn't have anything with as big a pile, or at least i don't think it does)

 

[Antitonic]

You know what'd be nice? An australian realease (or anywhere else that's not in north america, for that matter). Yes, I gripe, but it still gets to me that all this content is being withheld from me because of my choice in country.

I'm surprised XBOX Live lets us play against other users online!

There really should be service package-based pricing structures for Live. Is it really that hard to do?

 

[vansau]

And here I am stuck at college over the weekend! ARG!
Might as well get ready for finals.

Psh, nobody cares about finals. Oh, wait... dammit. Stupid senior year.

 

[mjc0961]

However, being able to stream commercial-free episodes of my favorite shows on my Xbox is suddenly a lot more appealing.

What? Yesterday they said it still had commercials if you stream Hulu Plus to a console. Did they change their minds?

Anyway if they're going to give it free for a week, I'll take a look. Thanks, Jack Links!

You know what'd be nice? An australian realease (or anywhere else that's not in north america, for that matter). Yes, I gripe, but it still gets to me that all this content is being withheld from me because of my choice in country.

Will hulu be available in the UK through this (seeing as my experience with hulu is frustration of it only being available in america and annoyance that the uk doesn't have anything with as big a pile, or at least i don't think it does)

You guys know it's not because Microsoft says "Fuck Australia and fuck the UK! USA 4 life!", right? First of all, it's two services here, Xbox Live and Hulu Plus. And then, you have all the different TV networks that Hulu has to get deals with to be able to use their shows. It's a whole big pile of contracts and licensing and all sorts of nasty legal shit that would probably make my brain explode if I had to read any of it. But the point is, it's not as simple as Microsoft being able to give it to everyone but they don't feel like doing so.

 

[Woodsey]

"However, being able to stream commercial-free episodes of my favorite shows on my Xbox is suddenly a lot more appealing."

*insert necessary, "how much are they paying you?!" gag*

OT: So for a week its free, and then you have to pay for Hulu on top of paying for Gold? Correct?

If only there was some sort of device that allowed us to bypass the XBL cost, and pay for only Hulu. But where would we find such a thing, and what would it be called?! And let's face it, you'd never find one of those hypothetical devices already existing inside the majority of households today.

 

[Andronicus]

You guys know it's not because Microsoft says "Fuck Australia and fuck the UK! USA 4 life!", right? First of all, it's two services here, Xbox Live and Hulu Plus. And then, you have all the different TV networks that Hulu has to get deals with to be able to use their shows. It's a whole big pile of contracts and licensing and all sorts of nasty legal shit that would probably make my brain explode if I had to read any of it. But the point is, it's not as simple as Microsoft being able to give it to everyone but they don't feel like doing so.

This may be true, but that fact is that Microsoft is willing to put in the effort to provide it for America, but nowhere else. The American XBox live has ESPN, Last.fm, Netflix and now they have Hulu. Australian XBox just got foxtel. Yay? On top of this, the American store also has a section dedicated to indie titles. You remember those cool $1-$3 RPG's that everyone seems to be talking about, like the Cthulu one? The ones that are exclusive to XBox? There is, quite literally, no feasible way of purchasing those games in Australia, because they're simply not offered here.

Maybe it is a lot of paperwork, but the fact of the matter is that Microsoft is able and willing to do it, as long as it's only for Americans, apparently.

 

[Woodsey]

"However, being able to stream commercial-free episodes of my favorite shows on my Xbox is suddenly a lot more appealing."

*insert necessary, "how much are they paying you?!" gag*

OT: So for a week its free, and then you have to pay for Hulu on top of paying for Gold? Correct?

Yep.

Honestly, $60 a year for online gaming isn't really as much as it sounds, and $8 a month for high quality instant on-demand TV is a better deal than pretty much any other cable deal out there. I can't ask for a better deal as far as Hulu goes...

...now, MS did raise the price from $50/yr to $60/yr. Damn, I have to pay a whole $10 more per year? Fucking money grubbing greedy bastards...[/sarcasm]

Small cost when viewed on its own, large cost when you view it in relation to what everyone else does and what they're charging you for (the ability to play the other half of your games, and then some needless shit that'd cost less if you just used your PC - like Hulu).

 

[mjc0961]

This may be true, but that fact is that Microsoft is willing to put in the effort to provide it for America, but nowhere else.

Okay stop, I can't read past that. The fact is that you have no idea what Microsoft is or isn't trying to do for other regions, or even if it's their call on whether or not Hulu Plus can go to Xbox Live in other regions. Maybe Hulu said no. Maybe some of Hulu's content providers said no. You don't know and I don't know. So the only fact is that you can't accurately blame Microsoft for this.

You can still blame them if you want to pull assumptions out of your behind though, but don't expect me to be on the Microsoft hater train with you. And no, it won't be just because I get Hulu Plus (like I said, I probably won't even use it aside from this free week Jack Links sponsored, and even then I might not use if it they have nothing to watch).

 

[Grey_Focks]

Free week of actually using my TV to.....watch TV? Hell, seeing as I've been too lazy to hook cable up to it, that sounds pretty good! And hopefully a week will be enough for me to get through all 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1. I wonder if Atlantis, full show, is on Plus? I really ought to check that out.

Also, feels good being out of college, and not having to worry about book-learning anymore. Feels real good.

 

[PunkRex]

One step closure to game consoles becoming the ONE device every house hold needs. I wounder what theyll be called in the future... Net-Box... Display Station... Sii?