Skip to main content

Hulu as a cable channel? Cablevision makes channel 605 a Hulu portal

Is big cable trying to take Hulu back?

The New York area’s Cablevision Systems has announced that Hulu will now be available to traditional cable TV customers through its set-top boxes, where Optimum TV subscribers can access the streaming video service on channel 605, according to Variety.

Recommended Videos

Hulu is a joint streaming video venture which is owned by traditional TV portals, including the Disney-ABC Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Company, and Comcast-owned NBC, all of which have large stakes in the service known best for its next-day streams of network series.

Cablevision Systems is the first cable company to allow users to access Hulu via a normal channel-driven cable subscription. Dialing up channel 605 allows users to login through their Hulu account to view content, or use a free trial of the service. Users will then be greeted by an interactive portal which allows them to pick the content they wish to stream.

Cablevision previously had access to Hulu’s on-demand content, but only for subscribers who logged into Optimum TV’s online platform.

Hulu is not the first streaming video service to work on traditional cable portals. Netflix has been available via small cable operators and the U.K.’s Virgin Media for years, by way of an app integration with select set-top cable boxes.

Still, it’s an interesting phenomenon for a streaming service owned by cable company/TV networks to be licensed back to another cable company; one which is made all the more interesting given recent rumors about the hesitancy of Hulu’s owners to sign new long-term contracts that would allow it ensure its steady feed of network programming for the near future.

But the decision to bring Hulu to traditional cable subscribers in the same way they receive other premium cable channels like HBO, Showtime, and others, is probably more of a play to get older subscribers to try out Hulu than to court younger cord cutters back to cable.

Time will tell whether other, bigger, cable company’s follow suit. For their part, Hulu’s executives have expressed excitement about the potential new subscriber base.

“We are thrilled that Optimum customers can now access Hulu’s content library without having to leave their cable TV environment,” said Tim Connolly, Hulu’s senior vice president of distribution and strategic partnerships.

Optimum TV currently has 2.6 million subscribers. The rollout of the Hulu channel to those users will take place over the next several weeks.

Parker Hall
Former Senior Writer, Home Theater/Music
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
The most surprising horror movie of the decade is streaming now on Hulu
Georgina Campbell stands in an Airbnb in Barbarian.

It's hard to genuinely surprise moviegoers these days. Many of them have seen too many movies. They know the ropes too well. That has especially become the case with certain horror genres. How does someone even try to reinvent the slasher thriller in the year 2024? Or the haunted house movie? There are too many well-known tropes now, and a lot of movies understandably try to focus less on surprising their viewers and more on exceeding their expectations in different ways.

But then there are films that still make unpredictability look shockingly easy. Perhaps no movie of the 2020s so far has done that as well as Barbarian. The horror film from writer-director Zach Cregger came seemingly out of nowhere in the late summer of 2022 and quickly garnered a reputation for being a thriller that you should go into knowing as little about as possible. That's because Barbarian is, to put it incredibly simply, a wild ride unlike any other horror movie in recent memory.

Read more
How to watch The Weather Channel without cable
The Weather Channel on Roku.

There are a million ways to get information on the weather these days. Windows, for one. Computers for another. Random people on Instagram and TikTok who suddenly are experts in meteorology for a third. But for a lot of folks, it's still all about The Weather Channel — the ubiquitous channel that, appropriately enough, is all about The Weather. On a Channel.

And, unfortunately, it's time for many in Florida and the rest of the Southeast to keep their eyes glued on The Weather Channel as Hurricane Milton makes landfall this week in the Tampa Bay Area before cleaving its way through the center of the state. Miami looks like it should mostly be spared. Same goes for Northwest Florida, where I live. But models are also starting to show a possible follow-up storm later in the month.

Read more
Best live TV streaming services: YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling TV, and more
Amazon Prime Live TV on an iPad 11 Pro.

When it comes to cutting the cord and switching from cable to streaming, consumers today have more options than ever before. The most popular streaming services out there deliver tons of content from existing favorites, to new original content, and free ad-based streaming TV services exist, allowing you to watch without ever paying a dollar while you do. There's also a third choice, with streaming giants delivering the best alternative for live TV, with live streaming services.

From Hulu + Live TV to YouTube TV, live streaming has come a long way. They deliver options for VOD programs that you watch on your own schedule, to new live programming, and even live televised events and sports matches.

Read more