Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Hulu for PS3 appears to require PlayStation Plus

The for-pay tier of Sony's PlayStation Network has just launched, and new …

Sony's PlayStation Plus service has just launched, and Hulu Plus has just started to send out invites. Two great services that used to be free now offer for-pay tiers... yay? 

There's also evidence to suggest that a subscription to one may be required to watch the other on your PlayStation 3. That means you'll be paying Hulu $10 a month for that subscription, and then Sony requires you to pay $50 a year or $18 every three months to access it on your PlayStation 3.

At Technologizer, a writer found a chunk of code in one of Hulu's Web pages that clearly states a PlayStation Plus subscription is required to access the content on your PlayStation 3. A Kotaku reader also sent in an image he captured when using a preview code for the service that clearly states a PlayStation Plus subscription is required.

We checked the HTML ourselves; there it is.

Things could change between now and the official, full-bore launch of Hulu Plus, but Sony has a big financial incentive to keep this sort of content in the for-pay tier of its service. Microsoft already requires a Gold subscription for things like Netflix, and Sony has to eye that money somewhat jealously. By keeping add-on services like Hulu Plus in its higher tier, Sony provides more reasons to subscribe.

Expand full story

You must to comment.