CES 2018: Hulu Demos New Live TV Guide and Interface Updates

[MacRumors]

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Hulu is showing off a redesigned user interface that will be coming to the streaming service in the near future, reports TechCrunch.

A main feature in the revamped interface will include a new Live TV guide designed for subscribers of Hulu's live TV service. The Live TV guide is meant to help Hulu subscribers find something to watch when they're not seeking out a specific show.

According to TechCrunch, the new Live TV guide will be accessible through a lightning bolt icon in the main navigation bar. Once clicked, it will take users to an interface that resembles a cable-style TV guide with info on live TV that's currently airing.

In addition to the Live TV guide, Hulu will introduce a "Stop Suggesting" feature that lets you permanently remove shows you don't want to watch from your Hulu recommendations, and it will allow you to remove items from your Watch History.

Hulu also plans to implement a tool to allow you to manually mark shows as watched, which can be useful when you watch Hulu shows off of the Hulu service, and specific to the Winter Olympics, Hulu will add a dashboard for watching specific sports.

Hulu's planned interface changes come as the company hits a new milestone - 17 million subscribers. Hulu today announced that it closed its fiscal 2017 year with over 17 million subscribers across its subscription on demand and live TV plans in the United States, an increase of five million subscribers since 2016.

Hulu's new features will be introduced in the spring of 2018.

Article Link: CES 2018: Hulu Demos New Live TV Guide and Interface Updates

 

[Wilburx3]

Anything would be better than the current UI. Truly a frustrating experience.

 

[JimmyHook]

Good. Their current UI is absolutely the most horrible UI of any entertainment platform I’ve ever experienced

 

[Dainin]

Their UI is so horrible I cancelled my subscription. If this new UI is indeed better, I will considering subscribing again.

 

[Braderunner]

Live TV provider: “You can get every channel for $10/month”.
Me: “Are there commercials”?
Live TV provider: “Yes”.
Me: “Not interested”.

 

[Chaka Jon]

Their UI is so horrible I cancelled my subscription. If this new UI is indeed better, I will considering subscribing again.

Ditto.

 

[OriginalMacRat]

Anything would be better than the current UI. Truly a frustrating experience.

You mean like the selection underline being ABOVE the text?

 

[radiology]

I tried HULU for a month twice and it sucked, greatly because of their awful interface. I really wanted to like it because their channel line up fits perfectly mine and my young children’s needs. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Based on the comments above mine, it sure sounds like I’m not alone in this instance.

 

[Juicy Box]

The current UI is not that old, but it definitely needs to be changed. The ATV3 version is much better imo.

It is as if Hulu looked at all the crappy changes that Netflux did to their tvOS app and they double down on them.

On Hulu's current UI, it takes like 15 clicks/button presses to switch profiles and play something in your watch list, while it takes about 3-4 clicks on the ATV3 version.

 

[Chopper9]

Updates in the SPRING?! How long does it take to put in a god damn cable-like guide... 2 weeks?! They've known it sucks since launch.
[doublepost=1515553390][/doublepost]BTW.... why is there no video of the demo?!

 

[stoopkidblues]

I guess I should be excited they finally added the ability to mark shows as watched

 

[Blakjack]

Can’t wait. Hulu is by far the best of yh bunch in my opinion.

 

[fjfjfjfj]

Does anyone else continue to experience the following annoyances:
- sometimes you can skip commercial on “recorded content” sometimes you cannot (pay for ability to skip) not consistent from one week to the next on same show
- “recorded” shows disappear (e.g. “recorded Golden Globes” by adding to ‘my stuff’ ahead of the broadcast but when you go in after the show airs, it says “nothing to show here.” (Sometimes you can manually address this by going into the DVR section but not consistent either (e.g pre arrivals special does appear in my stuff but is in DVR and can be watched, but Golden Globes shows “nothing to show here” under my stuff and is not even in DVR.
- some “recorded shows” play blurry even though connection speed is fine (can switch to another show at that moment and picture is fine).

 

[sepo01]

Good. Their current UI is absolutely the most horrible UI of any entertainment platform I’ve ever experienced

I heard a rumor they hired the guy who made the Zune UI for their current UI. Lets hope the new version is better

 

[davidg4781]

As I was trying to get through DTVN's interface the other day, I wondered why don't these live ITV providers just have the same interface as their cable boxes? Yeah, there's probably no numbers on these streaming devices, but there are arrows and a few other buttons, which is all it needs.

I wish Hulu would get local channels all over the country. Or all of the live ITV providers really. That would be a game changer.

 

[SeaFox]

I bought a new LG smart TV this holiday season, and it still seems to have the old (think: two years back) Hulu interface. There has been at least one update to the app since I got it, and it still hasn't changed.

Live TV is great and all, but at this point all I really want is multi-profile support.

 

[jamesrick80]

Is there live TV service still streaming at only 720p????

 

[TechyJim]

Live TV provider: “You can get every channel for $10/month”.
Me: “Are there commercials”?
Live TV provider: “Yes”.
Me: “Not interested”.

Much as I can't stand the ads either (I grew up with the BBC), given that it's live, they'd have to fill the gaps in programming with something while the other providers were showing their ad commitment. Trailers for other shows? News? Weather? PSAs? Exercises? Messages from our leader? All better options than the cancer ad that my telescreen keeps belching at me during every break ;-)

 

[bigjohn]

Good. Their current UI is absolutely the most horrible UI of any entertainment platform I’ve ever experienced

is it worse than NCSA Mosaic?

i use Hulu, it's fine. Just go to My Stuff.

 

[mmm1345]

Hulu frustrates me to no end.

• I love it's content but the interface has always been horrible,
  
• they don't have 4K content and when they did it was only on my gaming consoles, then they took away 4K entirely.
  
• They charge you to watch the same damn 2 commercials literally every 10 minutes, I pay extra for no-commercials only to still have commercials on some things
  
• The new guide is AWFUL. Old design was bad enough but whoever thought this design was a good idea should be FIRED. It's even MORE impossible to find anything, you have to know EXACTLY what you want to watch and when you find it, it's hard to figure out how to actually play the damn content.
  
• The couple of shows that I'm currently watching air WEEKLY!! WTF is the point of a service like Hulu if I have to watch the damn shows on a WEEKLY basis. Defeats the ENTIRE point of a streaming service like Hulu. Especially one that charges $12 a MONTH for the "commercial free" option.
  
  I don't know why I bother with them, it's a WRETCHED experience all around. If not for the fact that I actually like the content, I would never have it and even then, with so much to watch its harder and harder to continue to support them.

 

[CarlJ]

You mean like the selection underline being ABOVE the text?

One of many problems. Usability and discoverability were at the bottom of their list, having it be pretty and look cool were at the top, along with spoon-feeding you the shows they want you to watch - I'm a bit tired of them continually listing shows on the front page that I actively detest with no way to remove them (sounds like they're finally addressing that - if the "remove recommendation" bit works, that'll be welcome).

I like Hulu's content, but I really dislike the current version of the app (since their redesign - before, it was cluttered, but you could find things quickly, and see lots of choices at once, instead of just 3 at a time, with title text only, listed in all caps). Most of the time, I track what's new to watch with an Apple TV app called "WatchAid" (not a huge fan of Apple's "TV" app either - last I looked, it really wanted me to watch TV in the ways that they intended - WatchAid simply shows what's new for the shows I want and lets me click through, much more lightweight). So, I'm watching things on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix, but mostly not navigating their menus.

 

[WWPD]

The current UI was forged in the land of Mordor, from the fires of Mount Doom.

 

[VeryVito]

Anything would be better than the current UI. Truly a frustrating experience.

Absolutely. I actually rage-quit Hulu after trying to use their new UI this year. Granted, I went back to appease the family's sitcom addiction, but the amount of time we've spent in the app has dropped to nearly 10% of what it used to be.