TechCrunch is reporting that an iPad-friendly version of Hulu is in the works, and may be ready in time for the tablet's launch. Oh, sweet mercy, let it be true.

The bad news is that the rumor gets pretty vague "industry insider" sourcing. The good news is that the move would make perfect sense for Hulu, especially given that they've reportedly already had an iPhone app in the works for some time.

The barriers to entry for Hulu on the iPad aren't as insurmountable as they may seem. All of Hulu's videos are already encoded in H.264, which is supported by Quicktime and Safari. So Hulu could simply have its videos open in Quicktime (since the iPad and iPhone don't support Flash). Or, more likely, they could build a custom app with its own player. Of course, since Hulu.com is built on Flash, the result might not look or act quite the way the site does, but as long as the content is there, I'm fine with that.

As with all rumors, time will tell. But this one's got a shorter time horizon than most. The iPad launches in March, and having Hulu along for the ride would be a pretty sweet selling point. [TechCrunch]