Hulu Plus is now available on Apple TV

Hulu Plus is now available on Apple TV

Apple has added Hulu Plus to the Apple TV, now providing another online streaming source to the popular streaming box. A Hulu Plus subscription is $7.99 per month.

The Apple TV streaming media box now supports three content sources: Apple’s own iTunes, Netflix and now Hulu Plus. This provides plenty of choices for the owner of an Apple TV, though maybe not enough choices to entice future shoppers to choose the Apple TV over the Roku, Boxee or similar streaming box.

Hulu Plus and Netflix are somewhat competitive with one another. Their subscriptions are about the same price per month, and both offer or compete for the same content. Hulu Plus’s main advantage is current-run TV programs. Of course plenty of current run shows, which are available on Hulu, like the current season of Project Runway, are unavailable to stream to a TV or mobile device. This makes their subscription service seem like a waste of money, especially considering the shows are still ad supported, including the past season catalogs. Netflix provides past season shows without ads.

Similarly, iTunes also competes with Hulu Plus, though on a per-program basis. Where Hulu Plus is a fixed-price monthly subscription, iTunes sells the shows on a per episode or season basis. For example, the current season of Project Runway is available on iTunes for $2.99 per episode.

This seems like a positive step forward for Apple. The rumor is Amazon Video on Demand will also be coming to Apple TV, which is a direct competitor with iTunes. Of course they’re saying you won’t be able to make purchases from Amazon directly from the Apple TV, so Apple would still hold an edge.