HULU CUTS PRICE, LOOKING TO UNDERCUT NETFLIX

In an apparent effort to make itself more competitive with Netflix, Hulu on Wednesday lowered the subscription price of its paid service, Hulu Plus, to $7.99 per month from $9.99 and informed subscribers who have already been receiving the service that they would receive a credit of $2.00 for each month for which they had paid full price. According to News Corp-owned AllThingsDigital.com, Hulu chief Jason Kilar had hoped to reduce the price to $4.95, but the four owners of the service balked at that price. (One of them is News Corp.) Analysts have questioned whether even the $7.95 price will attract many subscribers, given the fact that for $1.00 more, Netflix subscribers not only can view online many of the TV packages offered by Hulu — as well as thousands of movies via streaming or by mail. AllThingsDigital quoted Adam Fruci of the Splitsider blog as saying, “For about the same price as Netflix’s streaming service, you get a fraction of the content” with Hulu.