Right now you might be thinking that PlayStation Plus is little more than a glorified book club. After all, you send your cheque and, over the coming months, you get content you may or may not actually have been interested in had a direct cost been involved. Of course, there’s the handy scheduling of updates and previewing of full titles bit, but the latter still relates to just more content while the former is merely a handy tool that decreases the time it takes you to get at the content you already own when a associated patch is released. There’s more to PlayStation Plus, of course, but right now we haven’t seen much of the “special treatment” in terms of services Sony have previously alluded to. Until you look at the fine print on the new Hulu agreement that is.
Sure, Hulu Plus is a paid service for what people have been enjoying on the PCs without charge for some time, and it’s soon to only be available to US PS3 users, but it does appear that some future new services added to the PSN will require the elusive golden plus next to your name.
Check the HTML source for the Hulu Plus ‘Devices supported’ page and you’ll be greeted with the following:
“Note: you must be a subscriber of the Playstation Plus Network.”
Finally, it appears Hulu Plus will be accessible through the use of a downloadable client, a solution that contrasts with how Netflix on the PS3 currently works; the onerous task of actually inserting a physical disc required. Who knows, maybe the arrival of Hulu on the PS3 will accelerate Netflix’s plans of releasing a disc-less solution for the popular service. Or, better still, the likes of Hulu and Netflix extending their services to Europe.
Source: Joystiq
Ed the Penguin
Speaking strictly from a UK point of view, that almost makes me thankful that we got iPlayer prior to PlayStation Plus… but the question is, will ITV follow suit?
Person678
That wouldn’t have happened if it didn’t come before. The BBC have a policy of not charging, which is why it isn’t on Xbox Live.
TRiLoGY
Plus iPlayer is a free website, so if you were to make it only accessable via Playstation Plus, they would also have to charge regular internet users for iPlayer on the web..
Danlord
Well I can assume not. BBC approached Microsoft to get iPlayer on Xbox Live, but Microsoft wouldn’t allow it on Silver and want it to require a Gold account but BBC didn’t want that. I don’t think, legally you can charge for something that was once free, unless the service has added features like Hulu to Hulu Plus.
cc_star
The BBC will not allow their content to be placed exclusively on a chargeable platform – if Microsoft allowed it for Silver then the BBC wouldn’t have a problem going with the 360.
BBC content is already paid for through the licence fee, the BBC Trust would not allow another company to profit on top of that, this is why all the BBC digital channel including BBCHD are available on a Sky box whether you subscribe to Sky or not… you don’t even need a card in the box
Amphlett
I never watch ITV anyway (except for their rubbish coverage of the World Cup) so they can do what they want with ITV Player.
cc_star
Yes, exactly
SpikeyMikey23
Andy townsend! what a wanker!
bajere
Champions leauge is the only thing worth watching on none Sky channels. (BBC-Five)
jikomanzoku
I’m not the only one who’s sick of the sight of James Bloody Corden then – massive tit that he is.
dizappear
we pay a license fee though for bbc so they couldnt put it on plus only anyway.
shields_t
I wonder if this is going to set a precedent with mmo games like dc online on the horizon….
Kovacs
Maybe Plus subscribers get a discount?
BoyDay
I’d never pay a subscription fee for just one game anyway, so finding out a few weeks ago made me decide I won’t be buying DCU even though I had been really looking forward to it.
If they make it free for PSN+ subscribers (which won’t happen), then I’ll buy it, but otherwise they’ll be missing out on my money. £40 to buy the game and then £10 or so a month to actually be able to play it is a piss take – that’s why I can understand people getting so into World of Warcraft – if you’re paying a monthly fee especially for a game, you may as well play it as much as you can to get anything approaching value for money!!!
Kovacs
The attraction with MMOs is that they grow and evolve, unlike traditional games. They’re like normal games + DLC on steroids. This evolution costs money. You’re not buying a game, you’re buying a game based service.
I don’t play MMOs but I understand the business model. It really is apples and orange.
Aroxi
Hulu probably would’ve wanted a separate subscription anyway, going through PSN+ makes it easier and allows Sony to get Plus more recognized over the PSN.
david
You basically your paying for it twice? Once with Psn+ and then once for Hulu? Or is it free?
cc_star
Not really,
PS+ has its own benefits with the included games and the discounts and other stuff. So that is what you’re paying for there.
Hulu+ is a premium service, which gives you access to Hulu’s content on other devices (the media companies in the US are worried about allowing Hulu to give their content away from free on devices which you can watch on TV in case people cancel their TV subscriptions)
dpb135
Thought I read elsewhere you had to have a ps plus account & then it was $9.99 a month
just found this, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100629/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc2940
Just like the extras you need with xbl gold accounts to get the best of that. This is sure to upset some ps3 fanboys
Kovacs
Yes, the fee is still there. There was never any inference that you got Hulu Plus for free if you paid for PlayStation Plus. To be able to get the service at all, however, you’ll need to be a Plusite.
seedaripper1973
…and in America ;-)
H3O
PS+ and 9.99 a month. No thanks.
AJ
Well, PS+ & Hulu+ really only totals up to $13.32/mo if you go for the 15 month deal right now. You’d be getting your favorite TV shows and free games for that.
Apnomis
Of course all this could just be a simple case of crossed wires by Hulu, the fact it says ‘PlayStation Plus Network’ rather than just ‘PlayStation Plus’ may just mean you need a PSN ID to access the service? It seems a bit counter productive to offer a premium service within a premium service, fair enough if it was a free service but if you have to pay anyway why limit it to a section of the audience that are paying for something else already?
Either way it’s inevitable this will happen sooner or later, given I’ve no interest in the game rental element it would take something like this in the UK to convince me to pay up…
Bilbo_bobbins
Hulu is a waste of time anyway. Paying for Plus then for Hulu is just stupid, when you can just do it online for free without P+?
Kovacs
It’s not Hulu. It’s Hulu Plus.
From wikipedia.
“On May 24, 2010, Hulu planned to begin charging $9.95 per month for premium content identified as “Hulu Plus”. For example, the five newest episodes of Glee, Lost and Saturday Night Live would be free, but older episodes would require the payment of $9.95 per month. The premium content would not include cable shows.”
Bilbo_bobbins
oh ok I see.
xdarkmagician
very happy to hear that there will be an app, I fear hulu would just try to run from the browser. Not a big shock to hear you need PSN+ to get it, although it be alot cooler if you didn’t.
Mick939
:-( now us European plus users need stuff
skibadee
yeah would be nice if we get the lovefilm service or something along those lines.
stormy
I think this is the thin end of the wedge, I can (understandably) see Sony want to entice people onto Plus. Trouble is I can see PSN basic being left to rot with little or nada new features. That will be a shame.
tonycawley
You’re absolutely right, that is exactly what’s going to happen. But to be honest, i’d like to give my monthly money to sony, but at the moment there is nothing at all on playstation plus to entice me to part with my cash, it’s a complete rip off. If they add extra features that make it worth having then i’ll gladly pay for it. Until then though it’s pointless for me.
stormy
Agreed.
gazzagb
My thoughts exactly. You have to pay to buy stuff at a slightly lower price. People think its a great deal, but its not, thats why Sony is doing it.
tonycawley
To be honest, the worst part about the whole playstation plus thing, for me at least, is they’re giving out a game – it’s not free even though people say it is – but they’ve chosen little big planet, which is old, and everyone that wants to play it, surely already has done. What a terrible decision on the game to give out. If they’d offered something people actually want, something new, current, relevant, then people would surely sign up for it in droves. Just another awfully implemented sony fuck up.
bunimomike
Agreed, Tony. They should’ve struck a deal with the lads who made Joe Danger. Not too expensive to push PSN+ costs up but a game which has been very well received. Appreciate that Joe Danger is still very new but I’m guessing maybe 50% of their sells have probably already taken place for the coming 6 months. A tie-in with PSN+ would’ve been awesome.