President of Redbox, Mitch Lowe told analysts that its upcoming online movie service would be subscription-based like Netflix and Hulu Plus instead of charging for each movie like others including iTunes, Zune or Amazon.

Users would pay a monthly fee to stream to devices and access discs at kiosks. Redbox will have a partner in the service and the Seattle Times is thinking that it is Walmart Vudu and Amazon. So if you are a Redbox fan, this is good news.

Cloud gaming service OnLive and TV maker Vizio are discussing separate deals for subscription movie services of their own. OnLive is apparently committed to expanding to movies via subscriptions to go with their video games. Vizio is believed to be in talks for content.

This is an interesting move for Vizio since it already has access to Netflix and Vudu. It will be interesting to see what happens with both companies. Can Onlive compete with Netflix? Will Netflix have to get into gaming? Stay tuned.

OnLive is taking the Netflix approach to video games as it’s rolling out a flat-rate monthly pricing plan called PlayPack. It will cost $9.99 a month when it launches January 23rd, giving subscribers access to a catalog of forty retired and independent titles, including some games that are new to the OnLive service.

If you already bought the company’s $99 MicroConsole, you’ll get access to that catalog free until the formal launch, so you’ll have fourteen full games ready to play. You can pay month-to-month and cancel PlayPack at anytime and OnLive will still store your savegames for a full year in case you want to rejoin.

Reuters has some information suggesting that Microsoft is getting ready to launch a video subscription service for the XBox 360. The details are scarce and nobody knows yet how this will work, but Microsoft has several options.

The first option is to become a virtual cable operator and charge for bundles of channels. This is a model that we all know well and one that networks are familiar with. They could also create one app per channel, similar to what Roku does. It will be interesting to see what happens with this one.

TiVo has started implementing plans to subsidize their DVR hardware with a monthly fee, so Premiere is now yours for free if you agree to a 2-year contract at $20 per month. Of course, you have the other option if you don’t want to be tied down that long. You can pay $99, if you are willing to make a year-long commitment.

The TiVo Premiere XL will cost you $299 with a one-year commitment if THX-certified recorded shows are what you want. Just pick your poison.

Word on the street is that Sony is set to reveal a premium tier of the PlayStation Network service, labeled PSN+, during E3 2010. Unlike Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold service, PSN+ will focus on giving paid subscribers additional bonuses without limiting online multiplayer between paying and nonpaying users.

Subscribers will have access to a rotating list of PSP Minis and PSone Classics, exclusive in-game DLC, discounts to the PlayStation Store and “first hour” demo access on full retail titles. After the first hour of gameplay, players will be able to purchase the full title, but demo access will only be available once the entire title has been downloaded.

Sadly Hulu is ready to invade our wallets. At least some parts of Hulu won’t be free for much longer. We heard back in January that they were considering charging for the service and now the LA Times says that a subscription service could go into effect as early as May 24th. Yikes.

According to “people familiar with the matter,” viewers would be asked to pay $9.95 per month for access to episodes that aren’t brand new. Hulu will continue to provide the five most recent episodes of hit shows for free, but a paid subscription will be required to view shows older than that.

We now have the official price for the WSJ iPad app subscription: $3.99 per week with a monthly credit card charge of $17.29. For that price you get subscriber-only content areas like Business and Markets with access to a 7 day archive that can be downloaded and read at any time.

It also offers personalization features and you can save sections and articles for later reading. Without the subscription, the free WSJ iPad app will give you top articles and market data. Here’s the strange thing, a subscription to both the print and online versions of the Wall Street Journal will currently cost you just $2.69 per week (plus 2 weeks free) for a monthly bill of $11.67.

We knew that the day would come when HULU started charging for episodes and that day may be soon. According to The LA Times, Hulu is thinking about a pricing model that would go into effect in the next six months.

One of the options they are contemplating is to allow you to watch the five most recent episodes of a TV show for free, with the older episodes requiring a $5 monthly fee. At least 20 shows would be in the package to make it look good to users.

Want to ditch your overpriced cable TV service and get the same thing? For free? That’s what ZillionTV is all about. It’s a new service that offers ad-supported HDTV shows and pay on demand. See? Just like what you have now. The “Z-bar” is a compact set-top box that gets its video direct from your broadband connection. That’s where the magic happens. It will cost you a $50 installation fee, then you’re all set to stick it to the man.

The service is in beta right now, but when it’s available later in the year, you will have a few options. You can view shows for free with advertising attached, or buy them to watch ad-free shows. And yes, some big names are attached, like NBC Universal, Disney, 20th Century Fox Television, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Sounds awesome.

Looks like the touch screen BlackBerry Storm has dropped to $99 on Amazon with no rebate required. Previously the price had been $249.99 with a $100 rebate, which brought the total to $149.99. It’s probably a result of Amazon competing against Verizon’s own buy one get one free sale going on through March 31, 2009.

If you don’t need two BlackBerry Storms, then why not head over to Amazon and get one for $99 (after a 2 year new subscriber agreement). I guess this should make anyone who wants one very happy.

Yep, you read that right! Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold subscription, which normally costs you $50 annually, is being sold by Amazon right now for $29.97. We have no idea what it means, but a similar discount was apparently happening at Buy.com last week. Could it mean that Microsoft might be moving toward a lower price for the subscription?

We have no idea. Who cares about “why” or “how”, we just think it’s awesome. Any 40% markdown that leaves us some extra cash for games is fine by us.