Hulu likely to begin charging users next year

"It's time to start getting paid for broadcast content online."

So says Chase Carey, a bigwig at News Corp., one of the owners of Hulu, the great white hope for TV networks looking to make the jump to to the web. 

Hulu has been an unabashed success to date, beloved by users for its exceptional depth of high-quality broadcast content, and supported by advertising which is tolerated by watchers and, presumably, which helps the site to earn its keep with its corporate overlords.

Hulu clearly makes money, but apparently not enough, and Carey says that "it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model" if it wants to keep operating.

There's no timeline on the table for that transition, but it will probably be soon: 2010 is a distinct possibility that Carey has now floated publicly. The big shots would clearly love to get the cash rolling in as soon as possible.

How exactly the subscription model would work isn't clear either. Carey says a pay wall around all of Hulu isn't in the cards -- that would risk a revolt from users who (probably rightly) feel that paying to watch content that is otherwise free to anyone with a television in a tiny window on their computers is grossly unfair. Instead, the company is likely to create a hybrid subscription system, where some content is free and some must be paid for, possibly web-only content like behind-the-scenes footage of hit shows and early previews of upcoming episodes.

But really, who knows what might happen? The announcement of a subscription-oriented plan is so new that it could shake out any number of ways. 

How much are you willing to pay to watch network TV on Hulu?