Apparently, Hulu might not be a free service much longer. They plan to start a subscription policy for their service and make it accessible on devices possibly including the X-box 360 and iPad two months from now. However, Hulu only wants to charge for older TV episodes and other viewable material while new episodes and shows will still be available for free.

The subscription service may also hit other mobile devices and game consoles soon. Therefore, the newly-developed iPhone 4 unveiled by Apple earlier this week may be on Hulu’s radar as well.

Last year, Hulu made about a hundred million dollars in advertising and they’ll probably face serious competition in the worldwide online video market. According to ABI Research, this industry is very likely to reach 16.1 billion in paid and ad-supported services in the next two years. Cable and satellite companies focused on offering better video on-demand will be a significant challenge to businesses like Hulu and Netflix in the struggle to win customers. A video streaming service war is probably coming. It’ll be interesting to see what options the general consumer will have after the dust settles.

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