Hulu is planning to launch a premium subscription service in Japan later this year, reports Hulu's senior VP of international, Johannes Larcher, in a blog post.
The content will be available on "four screens (PCs, TVs, mobile phones, and tablets), for one monthly price," Larcher wrote. The company, however, has not released any specific details of the feature films and TV shows that will be offered in Japan and it isn't known if Hulu's existing owners, ABC, Fox and NBC will be supplying U.S. network TV shows to the service.
While U.S. movies have always done well in Japan, the county's TV programming is mostly domestically produced.
Larcher cited a number of factors in their decision to launch the Japanese service, including the fact that the country is a major producer of content and that Hulu has long included Japanese fare in its U.S. lineup.
"In Japan, we also see an unfulfilled market need with respect to premium feature film and TV content, and very favorable environmental factors to a service like ours, including extensive broadband penetration, smart phone and other internet-connected device ubiquity, and strong consumer interest," he added.
