Q. I tried to watch the World Series last night on Hulu and it was the worst experience of my life! I couldn’t log in until the third inning. And when I did get in, the picture kept freezing and sputtering. What on earth is wrong with these people?!! — Henry, Suitland, Maryland.
Henry, you are not alone. Hulu Live was an abysmal failure last night with thousands of World Series fans posting angry complaints on social media sites such as Twitter. As you note, they said they had difficulty logging in. And when they were able to log in, the Hulu Live picture was constantly interrupted by one technical snafu after another.
“Want to know why streaming isn’t close to the darling the media has made it out to be: 4 World Series innings, minimum 20 frozen video frames, 3 complete resets, 4 missed runs…& I can go on. @FOXSportsPR,” wrote Brian Peterson, a former Fox and NFL executive who tried to watch game one last night on Hulu.
“@Hulu_support why has the Hulu live service keep throwing errors so much lately? I have tried on different internet connections and still it’s failing. Making me look elsewhere for live tv… get the service fix or fall in line with cable and satellite…. ridiculous,” tweeted ‘Jason Russell.’
Downdetector.com, which tracks online outages, said 4,372 Hulu users were posting complaints last night at the height of the problem.
Hulu Live last night noted on Twitter that there was a problem with its picture, but never explained why or that a solution was ever found.
“Our sincere apologies for the trouble!” Hulu Live’s Twitter customer service team told one upset customer after the game was over. “It sounds like you’re encountering a known issue that our team is currently investigating. Rest assured, we’re working towards a resolution.”
Many cord-cutters and other cost-conscious consumers have turned to live streaming services such as Hulu Live as an alternative to expensive packages from cable and satellite TV. But live streaming has frequently been marred by technical problems, particularly during high-profile events such as a World Series game when servers are most taxed.
For Hulu Live subscribers, game two is tonight. Best of luck to all.
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Although i did not watch the game ,I have had freezing and login issues with nba team pass the last 3 years which is why i hate streaming! It simply cannot be trusted to work as well as satellite or cable tv. And of course i signed up for for it again this year. Next year i will just pay the extra money and get nba league pass on cable unless my cable company starts carrying the nba team pass. I hope hulu can fix the problem for their subscribers so they can enjoy the world series.
YouTubeTV worked perfectly fine during Game 1 of the World Series, and considering YouTubeTV is the primary sponsor it better work. I have noticed that a viewer might be 45 to 60 seconds behind real-time during huge events on YouTubeTV, but it’s not a big deal to our household. As long as the service is stable, that’s what is important.
I watched on Direct as I have in the past few weeks. I’m watching on a Z9d Sony. Switching back and forth from 4K station to standard Fox 11 showed little difference.
It’s not the first time I have experienced that issue. So maybe Henry is not really missing much
Just watch it using a TV antenna. It’s free. 🙂