• April 20, 2009

Online video service Hulu and mobile TV provider MobiTV are planning to launch their own iPhone apps by summer, according to reports. The Hulu app would roll out in the next few months and would work both over WiFi and AT&T's 3G network, according to the Business Insider, citing an unnamed industry executive.

For technofiles, it would be a match made in heaven: the premiere Web video service paired with the mobile device of choice. Whether Hulu co-owners NBCU and News Corp. can live with iPhone users streaming shows for free they might otherwise pay to watch via iTunes could be the only stumbling block.

Separately, MobiTV CMO Ray DeRenzo told FierceWireless the company plans to introduce an iPhone app in conjunction with the launch of the iPhone 3.0 platform this summer. While creating iPhone apps previously for partners including CBS, MobiTV has waited until the App Store allowed subscription-based payments to develop its own.

MobiTV, which offers content from the likes of CBS, NBC, ABC and the Disney Channel, surpassed six million subscribers earlier this year. While growing, the audience for mobile TV is limited to about 5% of U.S. cell subscribers, according to Nielsen Mobile.--Mark Walsh