Changing a Hulu Live TV home network is not difficult, but there are considerations to be aware of before and after. A Hulu Live TV home network change not only affects the local and regional channels a subscriber has access to, but also the devices the live TV streaming service can be accessed on.
Hulu Live TV is now one of the most popular live TV streaming services in the United States. As a result, there is going to be a significant number of paying subscribers who will be looking to access the service at home and away from home.
Generally speaking, there are no major issues with streaming live TV at different locations, so long as the devices are designed for use in those places. However, changing homes, or attempting to watch Hulu Live TV on living room devices in multiple homes, can create issues.
Why Hulu’s Home network matters
Hulu Live TV requires a dedicated home area to be identified when setting up the service for the first time. Technically, Hulu defines this as the subscriber’s “Home network” and while new customers can sign up to the service on any device, Hulu requires all Live TV customers to set a Home network within the first 30 days of signing up.
For reference, basic Hulu and Hulu (No Ads) subscribers do not need to set a Home network as this requirement is only for those accessing live TV.
Setting a Home network up is fairly easy to do and typically happens the first time a subscriber accesses the service through a ‘living room’ device, such as a smart TV, set-top box, or streaming player. Likewise, if signing up to the service through a desktop web browser, then Hulu will prompt the user to confirm their location.
Regardless of the method, most subscribers will inadvertently confirm their home location when signing up to Hulu, with the internet connection used to determine the home location.
The exception to this is when accessing the service via a mobile internet connection, mobile hotspot, or on a shared Wi-Fi network. While on these occasions the subscriber won’t be prompted to confirm their Home network, they will need to within the first 30 days to keep using the service. Subscribers will also need to change their Home network again when moving home.
How to change Hulu’s Home network
Actually changing the Home network is extremely easy and especially when accessing the service on a smart TV or streaming player. In fact, similar to setting up the Home network for the first time, if a subscriber opens the app on a new internet network from a living room device, Hulu will recognize the new internet connection and show a “Hi, it seems like you’re not at home” message on the screen.
Along with this message will be a “Yes, make this location my home” option and clicking this will automatically link the Hulu Live TV account to the new location.
Alternatively, Hulu Live TV subscribers can change their Home network location at any time by accessing their account via a mobile or desktop web browser while connected to the new home internet.
Change Home network manually:
- Head to the Hulu Live TV website
- Sign in if needed
- Click or tap on the profile icon
- Select Account
- Find the ‘Privacy and Settings’ section
- Click or tap on ‘Set or Change Home’
- Confirm new location
Again, Hulu will be using the current internet connection to confirm the location, irrespective of whether accessing on a living room device or the web browser. This is also why Hulu Live TV subscribers cannot change their Home network when using a mobile internet connection.
Issues with changing Hulu’s Home network
Hulu only allows one Home network to be set at any given time. Therefore, Live TV subscribers cannot link multiple homes to the same Hulu account. Even if they could, it most likely wouldn’t matter as Hulu also does not allow living room devices to access the service in two different locations.
This is irrelevant of how many streams are available at the time, as Hulu has a blanket ban on using living room devices on any network outside of the home.
Due to this, any Hulu Live TV subscribers looking to access the service on a living room device in another home, will need to actively change their Home network to the new location. However, Hulu only allows Live TV subscribers to change their Home network four times each year.
Therefore, deciding on a home area is something subscribers will need to be careful of, especially if they expect to be moving around more than a few times within a twelve-month period. Each time a subscriber changes their home location, their living room devices will immediately be blocked from accessing the service when connecting to the original Home network. As a result, another change of home area will be required.
Hulu Home location summary
Hulu Live TV makes it easy to change a Home network location either through a compatible living room device or the account section when accessed through a web browser. The only time a subscriber cannot change their Home location is when accessing through a mobile browser or any internet connection that Hulu cannot confirm as fixed and specific to the customer.
In addition, Hulu Live TV only allows subscribers to change their home area four times each year and doesn’t allow two different locations to be set as “Home” at the same time. This makes it nearly impossible to use Hulu Live TV in multiple homes on living room devices. Mobile smartphones and devices are not bound by this same restriction and therefore, subscribers can access live TV channels at home, away from home, and even in different homes at the same time.
While Hulu Live TV has some fairly strict limits on location, none of the Home network limitations or restrictions apply to basic Hulu or Hulu (No Ads) subscribers.
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