College students don’t always have free time to watch TV, but still want to follow their favorite characters as they fist pump their way through the summer. Online streaming of TV shows is becoming more popular with busy college students, and Hulu.com is catching on.
College students can now receive a free, one-month trial subscription to Hulu’s premium Hulu Plus service by signing up with their university email address.
Once the free student trial expires, the Hulu Plus subscription will cost $7.99 per month. A month-long subscription to Netflix also costs $7.99 a month.
Those with a Hulu Plus subscription have access to a wider variety of content and more accessibility than regular subscribers. Normally, Hulu users can watch the five most recent episodes of a TV show, but Hulu Plus enables users to watch all current season episodes of various shows such as “Glee” and “30 Rock.” Select full-series runs of shows such as “Arrested Development” and “Desperate Housewives” are also available.
“We focus on a high-quality user experience, making online video easy to use and convenient to consume when, where and how people want, which is important for a busy student,” Elisa Schreiber, head of communications at Hulu, said in an email.
Hulu Plus subscribers can also watch content instantly in HD to Internet-connected devices, Schreiber said.
“We want students to be able to catch last night’s episode of Glee on their iPhone while bussing (sic) to class and finish it off at home on their laptops,” she said in the email.
Many Ohio State students are familiar with Hulu.com.
Megan Barnett, a third-year in psychology, said despite occasional buffering problems, she loves Hulu and uses it all the time.
Kyle Pacelli, a second-year in finance, said he is unsure of Hulu Plus’ potential success when compared to the popular online movie and TV subscription service, Netflix.
“If they can offer as good of a service as Netflix, then they will do OK. But I think people prefer Netflix overall,” he said.
Emily Aten, a fourth-year in nursing, said she knows about Hulu, but doesn’t use it very often.
“I usually watch things (shows) online,” she said. “I don’t know if I would pay for it. It’s not really a priority.”
