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Hulu Plus Coming to Xbox Live Friday with Free, One-Week Trial

 & Chloe Albanesius Executive Editor, News

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Xbox 360 users in the U.S. will have access to Hulu Plus starting Friday, Microsoft announced today.

Hulu Plus members will be able to stream the site's content over the Xbox 360 console, and those with the Kinect can control their Hulu queue with their voice or gestures.

As a promotion, Microsoft is teaming up with Jack Link's Beef Jerky, which will offer all Xbox Live users free access to Hulu Plus from April 29 to May 6.

"Through this sponsorship, all Xbox Live members (Free or Gold) will be able to enjoy Hulu Plus on Xbox Live, no Hulu Plus subscription or Xbox Live Gold membership required for an entire week," Larry Hyrb, the director of programming for Xbox Live, wrote in a blog post.

For $7.99 per month, Hulu Plus provides users with access to full seasons of the TV shows it has available, as well as movies.

The addition of Hulu Plus comes two weeks after Microsoft added Kinect support for Netflix on the Xbox 360, which also allows users to control Netflix queues with their voice or gestures.

Microsoft first announced plans for a Hulu-Netflix Kinect linkup during its CES keynote. At the time, Microsoft described the move as "all part of our vision to bring partner content plus the magic of Kinect straight into your living room."

The news comes as Xbox rival PlayStation is still grappling with a major hack and subsequent outage on its network. Microsoft on Wednesday also warned users of phishing attempts via its best-selling, first-person shooter game, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."

Hulu, meanwhile, released an update to its iOS app Thursday that organizes search results in tabs, provides a dedicated button for access to its Criterion movie collection, and promises improved performance and video playback, including a glitch that impacted the "resume" function.

About Our Expert

Chloe Albanesius

Chloe Albanesius

Executive Editor, News

My Experience

I started out covering tech policy in DC for The National Journal, where my beat included state-level tech news and all the congressional hearings and FCC meetings I could handle. I later covered Wall Street trading tech before switching gears to consumer tech. I now lead PCMag's news coverage.

My Areas of Expertise

Getting my start in DC means I still have a soft spot for tech policy; Congressional hearings can sometimes be as entertaining as a Bravo reality show, for better or worse. But PCMag is all about the technology we use every day, as well as keeping an eye out for the trends that will shape the industry in the years ahead (or flop on arrival). I've covered the rise of social media, the iOS vs. Android wars, the cord-cutting revolution that's now left us with hefty streaming bills, and the effort to stuff artificial intelligence into every product you could imagine. This job has taken me to CES in Vegas (one too many times), IFA in Berlin, and MWC in Barcelona. I also drove a Tesla 1,000 miles out west as part of our Best Mobile Networks project. Of late, my focus is on our hard-working team of reporters at PCMag, guiding and editing their robust coverage.

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