Hulu Video Streaming Service to Go Premium? [Hulu Officials Consider Premium Prices for Hulu.com Video Streaming Services]

Hulu. com is the place to go to watch full TV shows and movies for free. Or should I better say, was the place to go to watch them. It looks like Hulu officials are considering premium pricing for its popular video streaming service, a move that has been rumored for quite a while now.

In December alone Hulu reached an unprecedented 1 billion video shows streamed, for free, in the USA. That’s an impressive number and it’s only logical for Hulu execs to start considering introducing some kind of payment method for accessing all those videos available on Hulu.

Hulu has been growing steadily over the last two years, from 240 million shows in December 2008 to over 1 billion in December 2009. That number will only go up should the service remain free of charge. Once Hulu starts asking people for money for its TV show streaming service it will lose some of its growing popularity but its “regular” customers won’t leave.

Hulu’s success has also been proven by the growing number of convent partners and advertising sponsors. The company has 220 content partners so far and more than 400 sponsors. Hulu CEO, Jason Kilar, won’t say if Hulu is profitable but one could only imagine that the service must bring in some serious cash considering its current traffic. But premium prices will definitely increase Hulu’s income.

Although it might be an unpopular move at first, the introduction of premium prices might be beneficial for customers too. Hulu’s upcoming prices are expected to be more than decent and they have to be ready to compete against other streaming services such as Netflix for example.

Two pricing tiers are expected, $4.99 for an ad-free Hulu version and $14.99 for complete access to complete seasons of your favorite shows. Currently Hulu offers four episodes of specific TV shows for free so a premium plan will get you an even better deal. These Hulu plans are not yet official and we have no idea for now if and when the company will move to premium prices.

What about you? Do you Hulu? Would you pay for it?