Hulu will cut off older Roku players after June 24th
Hulu will stop working on some older Roku player models on June 24th, according to a recent update to a Hulu help center page originally noticed by Ars Technica. Affected models are the Roku Streaming Player (models 2400 to 3100) and the Roku Streaming Stick (model 3420 or older). After June 24th, users of those models may see error messages, won’t be able to sign in or may see the app disappear altogether. Instead of the latest Hulu app, these models use the Hulu classic app and don’t have access to premium add-ons or live TV.
Newer Roku models support the latest Hulu app, but must be updated to firmware 8.1 or higher to get it. Devices that must be updated are the Roku Ultra, Roku Premiere and Premiere+, Roku Express and Express+, Roku 3 and 4, Roku 2 (model 4210), Roku Streaming Stick (model 3500 or later), Roku TV and 4K Roku TV.
Roku OS 8.1 was originally released in 2018 with support for additional digital rights management (DRM) and additional metadata to tag the DRM being used. Older players could keep streaming video indefinitely, but publishers pushing for updated DRM is a likely cause behind streaming services like Hulu and Netflix phasing them out.
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