Hoping to spur adoption of its premium service now that it’s open to all, Hulu is lowering the price of the premium plan to $7.99, a 20 percent cut from the initial $9.99. At the same time, the video portal will refund current subscribers $2 for each month they’ve been paying and an additional $2 to make up for a new free trial week that wasn’t available during the preview.
Earlier reports speculated that the joint venture of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). and Disney (NYSE: DIS) would cut the price to $5.99. Instead, it’s split the difference, coming up with a price a $1 lower than Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) but not bargain basement. This level would make it easier to push the price back up if that makes sense in the future or to even create another tier of service at some point.
But is $7.99 enough to get people to sign up for a service that provides only a sizeable but incomplete slate of primetime shows — CBS (NYSE: CBS) remains a noticable absence — that can be viewed for free on Hulu and the network sites, and for a library of movies that doesn’t go deep? The big selling point for Hulu Plus is its depth on the TV side, with access to full seasons for current and recent shows long after they’ve dropped off the free sites. If they can’t figure out how to sell that — and how to compete with Netflix on the movie side — at this price, it’s hard to imagine another price cut will do the trick. But at this price, it may be more attractive for people looking for alternatives to TV to make their own bundle with Netflix and Hulu Plus.
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Hulu’s message to subscribers
Thanks for being a subscriber to Hulu Plus during our preview. We’ve been hard at work refining our existing applications, expanding the device coverage, and extending our content lineup. We’re excited to announce that today, Hulu Plus is officially launching out of preview to anyone in the U.S. for just $7.99/month.
Since we’re now offering Hulu Plus at a lower price than during the preview, your subscription fee has been lowered to $7.99/month, and on your next billing cycle, we’ll also automatically credit your account with $2 for each month you’ve been a subscriber. In addition, we’re now offering a 1-week free trial for all new subscribers, so we’ll be issuing you an additional $2 credit since the free trial wasn’t in place during the preview.
We’d also like to offer you the chance to earn more free time on Hulu Plus by helping us spread the word about the service. For each friend who uses your referral to join Hulu Plus, we’ll give you two additional weeks for free, up to 20 weeks total. Each of your referrals will also receive two weeks free on their first month’s subscription. For more details on the program and to invite your friends, please visit http://www.hulu.com/profile/referrals.
Since the Hulu Plus preview began, we’ve added more TV shows and extended our device coverage. To see which shows are now available on Hulu Plus, please visit http://www.hulu.com/plus/content, and to see the most up-to-date list of supported TVs, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and tablets visit http://www.hulu.com/plus/devices.
Thanks for supporting us during the Hulu Plus preview. We look forward to continuing to work on your behalf in the months and years to come.

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