As multimedia home consoles continue to battle for the living room, reports are surfacing that say a deal between Sony and Hulu to bring the streaming web service to PlayStation 3 could be announced "as soon as next week."
Citing two unnamed sources, Bloomberg says the two companies are "close to an agreement." Hulu offers a wide variety of television programming, plus original content unique to the site, for free. The article also notes previous reports of a $9.95 a month Hulu service potentially on its way to Xbox Live.
Spokespeople for both companies declined to comment, but as more and more media services from Last.fm to Netflix make their way to video game consoles, a partnership could be a net gain for Hulu, which would expand its reach and attract more advertisers. The PlayStation Network has 50 million users worldwide as of Sony's latest count.
The report also says that, hoping to make its paid service more attractive, Hulu is in discussions with CBS, Viacom and Time Warner to bolster its content the better to offer a paid service alongside its free one.
Either way, adding Hulu to video game consoles would mean gamers would have streaming access to hundreds of current and past episodes of TV series like The Simpsons, The Office and Saturday Night Live, in addition to user-rated clips and movie trailers.
