Edible Apple

After months of speculation, Hulu today announced via its official blog the arrival of “Hulu Plus”, a new ad supported subscription based service available for $9.99. That’s right, even subscribers will have to deal with ads. But that’s not really important right now. What is important is what that $9.99 will get you.

For starters, Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to full seasons of Television shows. As it stands now, Hulu only makes the 5 most recently viewed episodes available for viewing. Even better, Hulu Plus subscribers will also have access to complete back seasons of a number of classic TV shows, including all 3 seasons of the short-lived cult favorite Arrested Development and all 10 seasons of Law and Order: SVU. Hulu notes that Hulu Plus will be an effective “treasure chest in the cloud for TV lovers.”

As for the technical details, Hulu Plus content will be available to iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch 3rd-gen owners. The content will stream both via 3G and via wifi.

You can start watching a show on your HDTV one night, pick up where you left off on your laptop at lunch, watch another chunk on the bus ride home on your iPhone, and finish watching in bed on your iPad. The time to watch your favorite shows is any time you want.

So how do you go about becoming a Hulu Plus subscriber? Starting today, interested users can request an invitation here. Hulu also notes that they’ll be sending out random invites to users who follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

The Hulu Plus app is now available as a free download from iTunes over here. Users can use the app to request an invitation and can begin accessing content once it’s been accepted.