Both Mike and I use Hulu Plus… a lot. In fact, I find myself watching more and more of my shows through Hulu than through my cable box. Yes, so long as the shows are available through Hulu that is where I am watching them. I especially love the ability to watch pretty much anywhere, on my iPhone, on my iPad or on my TV through my Roku box.
Well, as of today there is another option. Yes, Hulu Plus comes to Apple TV today. New subscribers get a week free trial when creating a Hulu Plus account. You can sign up here or directly through Apple TV by using your existing iTunes account. After the free 1-week trial ends, your iTunes Account will be charged $7.99 per month as a recurring transaction.
Mike also uses Hulu on his Roku, and during the normal television season the family schedule often means catching most shows the following night (or weekend) on Hulu. One determining factor of not getting an Apple TV thus far was the absence of Hulu, and all of the recent iOS and Mac OS X updates have made that Apple TV a more desirable entertainment hub. So now that Hulu is on Apple TV, what remains to distinguish the Roku? For Mike, it is Amazon’s Prime Video library – so if they could bring THAT to Apple TV Roku would cease to exist. Of course, as Carly noted … that isn’t likely to happen any time soon.
I’m not that impressed by Amazon’s Prime library – I’m heavily invested in iTunes so I have an ATV and love it. My most common usage scenario is pulling content from my MBP (or now pushing stuff to the ATV via AirPlay), but I also use it for Netflix. Netflix and Hulu are my most common online services (since I cut the cord over a year ago) so this is really excellent news for me!
With Amazon Prime now on the iPad,
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-instant-video/id545519333?mt=8
It seems that it shouldn’t be too long before there is an iTV app.
Yep … I just posted on that as welll. Great stuff!