Hulu interrupted its Oscars broadcast before the final awards were presented.
"How is it possible that this is still happening in 2025?"
Hulu subscribers who were enjoying the Oscars ceremony on Sunday night expressed their dissatisfaction when the streaming service interrupted its broadcast before the event concluded. At the time of the interruption, viewers were met with a message saying "thank you for watching," incorrectly indicating that "the live event has ended," even though the winner for Best Actress and Best Picture were still yet to be announced.
Social media platforms and the Hulu subreddit quickly flooded with complaints and cancellation threats from users. The night proved complicated for the streaming service, which is owned by Disney. A few hours earlier, Hulu had acknowledged that some users were facing login issues, which were resolved shortly before 9 PM ET. However, the decision to cut off the live broadcast just before the most anticipated awards resulted in an even more embarrassing mistake.
The problem was due to a scheduling issue: Hulu had set an end time of 10:32 PM for the Oscars. That was the exact time viewers started being kicked off the stream. However, as often happens, several acceptance speeches ran longer than expected, and the cutoff time chosen by Hulu left no room for an event that is typically unpredictable.
Disney, through its spokesperson Dorothy Ballowe, issued a statement acknowledging the situation: "Tonight, we experienced technical and live streaming issues on Hulu that affected some Oscar viewers. We apologize for the experience and will make a full replay of the event available as soon as possible."
The incident recalls what happened during Super Bowl LII in 2018, when Hulu similarly ended its live broadcast in some markets before the game concluded.