Hulu's long-awaited iPad app and premium subscription service is becoming a reality in the coming months. The service will launch by invitation only for starters, and later will be expanded to the general public and to cover more devices including the Xbox 360 and PS3. The streaming video subscription to Hulu Plus runs $9.99 per month.

This provides access to thousands of streaming television shows including complete seasons and historic reruns from the 80s and 90s. Users can sign up for the invitation only phase and the Hulu iPad app will be launched in the App Store. There are several shows available free of charge in the Hulu app and reviews so far on video quality are positive.

Next month looks like it could be prime time for television shows on the Apple iPad. Hulu is forging ahead with its plans to add a subscription service to the free ad-supported content it now serves. Although the site is currently Flash-based, reports have indicated the company is moving to a more iPad friendly video format.

Now reports from the LA Times indicate that Hulu intends to release its subscription service in just over a month, on May 24. The newspaper cited people who have knowledge of the plans, although the company declined to comment. Hulu will not abandon free content, as the company plans to offer the five most recent episodes of shows outside of the subscription wall.

Hulu's free TV streaming service is back in the news with the announcement of other television apps for the iPad coming on launch day. Rumors of an iPhone app from Hulu have swirled around the company for a year now, with no application ever hitting the App Store. Now Hulu, seeing an opportunity on the iPad platform, is said to be negotiating rights clearances with content providers for the device.

Any mobile Hulu app would likely be based on a subscription model to increase revenues. Although the company has been profitable in the last two quarters, the NY Times reports that some of its 200 content suppliers believe revenue from the service needs to increased. 903 million video streams were watched using Hulu this January.

A new rumor, circulated this week, suggests that Hulu is actively developing a solution to bring a compatible version of the second largest video outlet on the web to the iPad. The current version of the Hulu website is not iPad compatible, due to the lack of Flash support. Hulu uses Flash to deliver its video content to viewers.

An inside source has purported that Hulu is already moving forward on plans to bring Hulu to the iPad, and while unsubstantiated, the claim makes a reasonable amount of sense. One one hand, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has called for a strong focus on moving into mobile. On another hand, although Hulu uses Flash to deliver their video content, the shows and movies that Hulu offers viewers is actually already encoded in