A LA Times report set internet surfers on red alert that their favorite TV episode source Hulu might soon be switching to a subscription service, billing its customers $9.99 a month.  That fee seemed pretty steep, when compared to cable offerings and brought the status of the service into question.

Fortunately, the date in question ("as soon as May 24") is fast approaching and there seems to be no sign of a subscription service.  According to All Things Digital's Peter Kafka, the parties involved (News Corp.’s Fox, Disney’s ABC, and GE’s NBC) may still be working to reach an agreement on the nature of the subscription service and are unready to deploy the service.

Kafka, though, says that the studios appear to agree that free content would continue to be offered in its current form, the subscription would only provide access to more episodes.  That's great news for worried Hulu fans everywhere, as it's always good when companies look to add more services a fee, not take existing services away.

The premium service would likely come with access to Hulu on the iPad or iPhone, via free apps.  Hulu has been cooking up these apps for some time now, but they have seen multiple delays.  It is unclear whether these delays stemmed from internal issues or navigating the tricky waters of Apple's App Store policies.

The Hulu subscription service will likely land in June or July at the soonest.  The latest info casts the move in a whole new light, changing it from a risky maneuver, to another smart move for a terrific website that recently became profitable.