Starting sometime in the Summer 2010, Boxee will roll out a pay-to-access platform that could be used by Hulu and the like sometime this year — but in a way you might not expect.

The idea behind the payment platform is that content providers will pay a commission to Boxee for the privilege of using the platform to deliver their content to consumers.  In return, the content providers are free to charge consumers for the right to access the information through either a subscription or a pay-per-view system as the discretion of the content provider.

According to Andrew Kippen, VP of Marketing for Boxee, the payment infrastructure is being put into practice to aid a failing business practice of ad supported content.  However, Kippen was clear to point out that the payment platform is not in direct result to a push by Hulu to monetize its content with a subscription-based service.  “It’s something that content providers both big and small that we’ve spoken with said they’re interested in because for a lot of them the advertising-only revenue model is not sustainable.”

The Boxee Applications page. Image courtesy of Boxee.tv

Payment methods that the consumer can use will be completely up to the content provider.  A good example would be Netflix.  While you can use the content through Boxee already, Netflix still charges a subscription to access their content.  Other providers, like Amazon VOD, offer similar content but with a pay-per-view offering.  When asked whether or not a certain percentage of the content would be dedicated to being free, Kippen explained that this was the heart of the Payment Platform.  In theory, the content currently available on Boxee would remain free and providers could charge for users to access additional content like archives of past episodes.

However, what gets put into the final iteration of the program is what Boxee hopes will attract a wide variety of content providers and consumers alike.  It’s a double-down strategy after the Boxee Box bet paid off to critical acclaim at this year’s CES.

John Fox : Starting at the age of 6, John was always fascinated with computers. His first machine, an IBM PCjr, had him hooked and from that sparked a love affair with technology. Creating webpages at the age of 12 and the advent of social media that came about in his 20's, he started his own media company, New Media Designs, in 2009. Due to the success of IndyGeek.net, New Media Designs' flagship product, the NMD brand was stopped in April 2010 and IndyGeek became the name of the company founded by Fox, his wife Esther and Alex Conner.