Hulu’s live TV streaming service started to stream with 60 frames per second (fps) this week, which should make for a much smoother viewing experience, especially for sports and other action-packed events. 60fps streams are available for a subset of Hulu’s live TV networks as well as devices as part of a phased roll-out.
“By offering our live streams at this frame rate, our goal is to provide a significantly more immersive viewing experience for Live TV,” a Hulu rep said in a statement posted to Reddit. “You’ll notice the difference most when watching sports or news, so we’re excited to have this in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics and March Madness.”
Hulu Live TV subscribers will be able to watch CNN, CNN International, HLN, TNT, TBS, TCM, TruTV, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim all Showtime channels as part of this first phase. Also included are all available NBC affiliates and the NBCUniversal-owned New England Cable News channels, as well as about half of the Fox affiliates available on Hulu’s live TV service.
These streams are currently available on a subset of devices, including iPhone/iPad, Apple TV, Xbox One, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen TV and Nintendo Switch.
Hulu’s rep did note that some of the NBC and Fox affiliates may at times revert back to 30fps streams “in order to bring you the most stable playback stream.” This is likely going to include very popular events like the Winter Olympics opening ceremony as well as March Madness.
Hulu experienced some difficulties during last weekend’s Super Bowl live stream, with streams ending prematurely, and a subset of viewers unable to watch the conclusion of the game. The company has since promised to make up for the faux-pas by giving affected users a free month of its service.