Hulu Plus officially launches at $7.99 a month, now on Roku boxes

It looks like rumors of a cheaper Hulu Plus subscription, the video streaming site’s premium offering, were true after all. Hulu announced the official launch of Hulu Plus today at $7.99 a month — two bucks cheaper than the $9.99 subscription offered during its preview period.

In addition, the company announced that Hulu Plus is available on Roku’s streaming video boxes today. We reported in September that the service was coming to Roku this fall. Hulu says that in the coming months it will be adding support for Tivo Premiere digital video recorders; TVs from Vizio, LG, and Panasonic; as well as the Xbox 360 and Western Digital “TV Live” devices.

Along with the slightly lowered subscription price, Hulu has put together some special offers to entice users to try out its premium service. New subscribers will get one free week of service, you and a friend will get two weeks free if you refer them to Hulu Plus, new Roku owners get one month free, and new Sony Bravia TV or Blu-ray player owners will receive 11 weeks free.

The price drop isn’t as low as the rumored $4.99 monthly pricing, but it may still end up enticing more users to try out Hulu Plus. The current pricing puts Hulu Plus slightly below Netflix’s $8.99 plan — the cheapest monthly plan that gives you access to Netflix’s streaming service. The new pricing does little to fix Hulu Plus’s content problems, though. Certain shows aren’t available for streaming to your TV with the service, and it’s not always clear when new TV episodes are available to watch.