A big win for Hulu and for Apple TV lovers. Hulu Plus is now available on the Apple TV brining the online video network’s library of TV content, originals and movies to anyone with the $99 Apple device. Hulu Plus now has over two million subscribers and has launched originals that include Battleground and The Yard. What does this mean for the future of Apple TV and will Hulu’s offerings compete with iTunes?
USA Today’s report lays out how big a deal it is for Apple to have made this deal. If you think offering Hulu’s library of TV content would directly compete with iTunes TV show downloads, you’re right. Still, Apple sees the advantage of this “compromise to amass the kind of premium content to help it sell more Apple TV devices.” Also, Apple will let you subscribe to Hulu Plus through iTunes taking a cut of the sales they bring in for Hulu. For Hulu, it likely realized that Apple’s new Mountain Lion update will enable Apple TV users to port Hulu streams to their TV sets via Airplay, anyway (previously only available for Hulu Plus subscribers.) Might as well get some money for it
The battle between Roku (who just raised $45 million for News Corp. and others) and Apple TV just got a lot hotter as well. The main reason I use both an Apple TV and a Roku is that the latter has had Hulu Plus for awhile. Now Roku will probably be my go-to for Amazon Instant. Boxee is good for non-corporate files and for Walmart’s VUDU service. Boxee used to have Hulu and here’s why they don’t anymore.
Cord-cutting is a false religion as Kit Digital’s deck displays. The growth of content on Apple TV will result in more set-top-box cutting that will result in more internet usage and data limits from the same provider that you stopped paying for TV. The next year is going to be a defining one for the internet-ready, app-store driven TV devices, stay tuned.