I missed what?! Tens of thousands report Hulu live outages during MLB playoffs

Hulu’s live coverage of sports, including National League Championship Series and American League Championship Series games, was interrupted by technical difficulties.

(Dan Goodman / Associated Press)

By Sandra McDonald

Oct. 17, 2024 8:22 PM PT

Hulu live coverage of multiple sporting events, including the Dodgers game, on Thursday night was interrupted by technical difficulties as users reported — with some heat — about the streaming service suddenly cutting out.

“Turns out @hulu does not, in fact, have live sports,” one X user posted.

Downdetector.com recorded about 83,000 outages.

Thursday night is Game 4 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series in New York between the Dodgers and the Mets. The Dodgers currently lead the series 2-1.

They were tied 1-1 going into the second inning, around the time that Hulu’s streaming servers encountered trouble. Users missed the second through fourth innings and were still having issues logging in at 7 p.m.

Here’s what Hulu watchers missed: The Dodgers broke the tie with two runs in the third on hits by Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernandez. The Mets made it 3-2 in the bottom of the third before the Dodgers added two more runs in the top of the fourth on a double by Mookie Betts, leaving the Dodgers up 5-2.

Meanwhile, the third game in the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees at the Cleveland Guardians was a nail-biter. The Guardians’ Jhonkensy Noel sent the game into extra innings with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for David Fry’s walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. The Yankees still lead the series, 2-1.

Posts to Hulu’s support account on X were filled with angry customers, saying their devices were not accepting correct log-in information. The support team was replying to some accounts, offering a link to Hulu’s support page — which ended up going down too.

“Apologies! We’ve received similar reports and our team is currently investigating this issue. We’re working to get things resolved ASAP. In the meantime, try using: https://t.co/qxlmnIPbSj as a possible workaround!”

The support team was also offering concessions to unhappy customers, asking them to follow prompts on their support contact page.

Hulu’s bundle with live TV, Disney+ and ESPN+ increased its price on the same day its baseball coverage faltered, up to $95.99 a month.

Times staff writer Tim Hubbard contributed to this report.