Hulu is now a channel on Optimum cable boxes

People subscribing to Cablevision’s Optimum TV service can now flip the channel to Hulu. As in, Hulu is literally now located on channel 605.

This time last year, Hulu and Cablevision made a deal to start offering Hulu’s subscription service (formerly known as Hulu Plus and now confusingly known just as Hulu) through Optimum. It’s beginning to roll out today, making Optimum the first cable service to integrate directly with Hulu. Customers will be able to subscribe through Optimum, but it sounds like existing Hulu customers will be supported, too.

Hulu is supposed to work the same on Optimum as it does on any streaming box. So even though you’re going to a specific Hulu channel, it sounds like that’ll just open you up into a Hulu app, where you can browse and search for something to watch.

It feels somewhat backward to get to Hulu by flipping channels, with it sitting near the end of a long list of linear networks. But Hulu’s hope is likely that this will appeal to an older audience, who are used to watching TV this way but may still be looking for more options.