Hulu started out as a joint venture between NBC Universal, the News Corporation, and the Walt Disney Company, to bring free television to the Internet.

Through allowing advertisements and sponsors, Hulu has continued to be profitable for the last two quarters it has been available.  Now the online television site is moving beyond standard computer screens by adding an application for the brand new iPad from Apple.

While this smart move is pleasant news for Apple techies everywhere, Hulu is still experiencing pressure from above.  The companies that supply content to Hulu are still pressuring the company to apply a subscription service to the site so you’d have to pay to view at least some of the content.

 Hulu president Jason Kilar is open to such an idea.  “Our mission is to help people discover the world’s premium content, and we believe that subscriptions can help to unlock some of that, including sports and movies and premium cable shows,” he said. “We’re certainly open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.”

According to the NY Times, the iPad application may test the subscription idea.  While there’s no release date yet for the application’s release, Mr. Kilar is enthusiastic about the future of portable computer devices like the iPad.  “Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office,” he said. Tablets, he added, “allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house.”

There’s still no Hulu application available for the iPhone or for televisions.  Mr. Kilar explained to the NY Times that this is because he “has focused on the core Web business.”