Hulu launches Hulu PLUS- an evil plot to bankrupt the world?

Have you been longing to watch your favorite TV shows on Hulu on your iPad, Xbox, PS3, iPhone, or even on that new big screen TV in your den? Well, now you can… for a $10 a month that is! Or, uh, you’ll be able to soon?

Although Hulu officially announced its new premium subscription service, known as Hulu Plus, a few days ago, the company is only offering limited access to the content for the time being. My guess is that Hulu received an overwhelming number of requests for early access. You can try and secure an invite for your self here, but be patient– most people haven’t received theirs just yet.

The Hulu iPhone and iPad apps are available in Apple’s App Store now– keep in mind that you’ll only be able to preview Hulu’s online content, meaning you can’t watch any videos until you get your invite and sign-up.

So what exactly do you get for $10 a month? A pretty decent amount of content actually. Unlike the free Hulu content online, Hulu Plus offers older episodes (think “season pass”) for a number of TV shows. Now, you’re not only limited to the last five episodes of a specific TV show; Hulu PLUS will actually let you watch the entire season of most ABC, NBC, and Fox shows, like:  Glee, The Office, House, Modern Family, 30 Rock, Family Guy, Grey’s Anatomy, 24, American Dad, Bones, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Find My Family, FlashForward, Friday Night Lights, Happy Town, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Lie To Me, Losing It With Jillian, Lost, Mercy, Minute to Win It, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Private Practice, Saturday Night Live, Shark Tank, Supernanny, The Biggest Loser, The Cleveland Show, The Good Guys, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Wanda Sykes Show, and last but… ok, maybe least: Trauma.

OK, OK I admit it: I copied and pasted that list from Hulu’s website, but to be honest I could’ve typed it myself… the list isn’t really that long. And considering that Hulu Plus is only offering the current season, not all of the seasons for those aformentioned shows, it’s not really that great of a deal. But, Plus does offer the entire run of some shows like : The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell, The Office, Heroes, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Grey’s Anatomy, Arrested Development, Ally McBeal, Desperate Housewives, 8 Simple Rules, American Dad, Angel, The Biggest Loser, Dancing With The Stars, Eli Stone, Legend of the Seeker, Life, Lipstick Jungle, Miami Vice, My Name is Earl, Parks and Recreation, Prison Break, Quantum Leap, Reaper, Samantha Who?, Saturday Night Live, Supernanny, The Office (U.K.), The Pretender, What About Brian, and last but definitely NOT least, Ugly Betty.  That’s actually a pretty decent list; it might make Hulu Plus worth it. Of course, I could just subscribe to Netflix and access many of those through watch instantly, at $9 a month meaning I’d save a buck a month.

The worst part of Hulu Plus though is that you still have to watch ads. Yes, you read that right: you have to pay $10 a month and you still have to sit through those tedious advertisements.

Another interesting note– in order to watch Hulu Plus on your Xbox or PlayStation, you’ll have to subscribe to either Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus. Is paying $170 a year for a service that should be free worth it ($50 for Xbox Live and $10/month for Hulu Plus or $120/year)? The prices sure beat cable’s though.

That’s all for now, I have to get back to watching So You Think You Can Dance, a show not currently not available on Hulu Plus.

UPDATE: Matt Gibstein was able to get his hands on some early Beta Access– stay tuned for his initial impressions.