Hulu Plus adds an official app for Chromecast

In a big win for Google’s new Chromecast device, Hulu Plus has added an official application, the companies announced today.

The Chromecast is an ultra-cheap streaming media device that lets you push whatever you’re watching on your laptop or mobile device onto your television screen. It launched back in July with support for only a handful of supported apps, such as Netflix and the Google-owned YouTube.

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Of course, you could still push anything playing in a Chrome web browser tab to your TV screen on Chromecast, but the sound wouldn’t jump with it. That was the biggest case against using Chromecast to push the free version of Hulu to your TV.

The new Chromecast Hulu app fixes the audio issues, but only for programming that’s specifically made available through the premium $8 monthly Hulu Plus subscription service. That means, for example, you’ll be able to watch nearly the entire library of Fox and NBC shows with both audio and video pushing to your TV, but content from Syfy network won’t.

By supporting Chromecast instead of ignoring or fighting it, Hulu does actually have a chance to incentivize people to sign up for its premium service.

The new app is available today to those with both Chromecast and a Hulu Plus subscription.