Headlines can only be so long, so let me start things off with the major caveat. Yes, PlayOn gives you the ability to stream Hulu or Netflix on your iPhone or iPad with their fancy web app, but it’s insanely expensive and can only be achieved on your local network. Talk about promising.

PlayOn’s service costs $39.99 the first year and $19.99 every consecutive year after that, or for a one time fee of $79.99, you can spend your hard-earned cash for “unlimited” access to Hulu and Netflix, Comedy Central, Revision 3, and other supported channels. You might as well just pay the $79.99 as it’s the cheapest option in the long run (for example you’ll save $40 a year if you pay for the Hulu Plus plan), but other networks like Revision 3 provide their content for free anyway.

Users simply need to install the latest version of the PlayOn client on their Windows PC, then log into http://m.playon.tv on their iPhone while connected to their home network. (The software streams content to devices via PCs — hence the need to be on your home network.)

Admittedly, PlayOn’s interface isn’t as slick as the official Hulu iPhone and iPad apps. Hulu is also constantly battling with PlayOn and similar services like Boxee to block access to its content — so it’s important to note that access to Hulu won’t always be guaranteed with PlayOn.

If you don’t already have the PlayOn service, you’ll need to pay to access content, download the PlayOn client, then stream it to your iPhone or iPad on your local network. This doesn’t seem very appealing to me at all, but maybe someone has a use.

[Venturebeat via Download Squad]