The comments that News Corp.'s deputy chairman, Chase Carey, made on Thursday at the OnScreen Media Summit explicitly indicate that the popular 'free' Hulu video service may soon be a thing of the past - giving way to Hulu subscription service!

Though Carey refrained from giving an exact timeline for free Hulu's proposed move towards subscription, his most recent revelation corroborated earlier reports hinting that Hulu, founded by News Corp. and NBC Universal, may begin charging for at least some of its TV shows and films next year.

Broadcasting & Cable, the co-host of the conference, quoted Carey thus: "I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value... Hulu concurs with the notion that it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business."

Hulu, which incidentally is the first successful online ad-supported video service, has been offering full-length TV shows from some of the foremost entertainment companies, including NBC Universal, and Twentieth Century Fox Film, among others.

Experts are somewhat wary of Hulu's subscription move as they opine that upon becoming a 'subscription video-on-demand service,' Hulu will have to compete with a horde of other sites that offer free plagiarized content to consumers!