Hulu may go from offering free online access to TV shows, movies and clips to a fee-based model, according to an executive from News Corp. Hulu is a joint venture amidst News Corp., NBC Universal, and Disney.

by day, paying for some of the substance on Hulu is a logical thing, said News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller during an World Wide Web Week event earlier that week. Miller, who was previously at AOL, prefaced his comments by saying he won’t attend his first Hulu board meeting until Monday, June 8, so his opinions are his own.

“I don’t see why by duration that shouldn’t happen,” Miller said. “I don’t think it’s on the agenda for Monday {but} it seems to me that by moment that could be a logical thing.”

“It was essentially a throwaway comment and more a reflection of whether they would,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “The question is what they’ll pay for what subject matter and under what consequences.”

Money, Money

Celebrating its first year recently, Hulu went from being in beta to offering users access to online videos, television shows, and clips from various providers of substance and has had tremendous growth. In the past year, the company has gone from 50 substance partners to more than 130, has grown the number of advertisers from 30 to 175, and has increased the number of streams from 63 million as of May to 308 million.

Although the service has gained a lot of momentum, and has been backed by top players, including Fox, MGM and Sony Pictures Television, moving from a free model to a fee-based model may put the brakes on Hulu’s momentum.

“Of course you’ll have to pay for it,” posted one blog poster with the screen name bloominoctober. “Hulu was too much of a good thing to…

[Source] dhiram