Gone are the days when you would have to rush to do something between commercials or risk missing your favorite scene or show on Live TV. With cable or satellite television, you had the groundbreaking ability to pause your shows whenever you wanted or needed to. But what about being able to pause live TV on your Roku Ultra?
You cannot pause live TV on the Roku Ultra or any Roku device outside of the Roku TV. You can pause streamed live TV from specific third-party apps. There are different ways to go about this.
This can be frustrating, especially if you’d gotten used to pausing live TV before cutting the cord. Keep on reading to learn how to get live TV on Roku Ultra and the different ways you can pause from live apps.
Is There a Way to Pause Live TV on Roku Ultra?
Strictly speaking, there isn’t a way to pause the live TV on your Roku Ultra when using the Roku Channel. This “Live TV Pause” feature is only available when using a Roku TV.
It requires you to plug in a compatible USB flash drive with at least 16 GB of storage. This “Live TV Pause” feature is only available when watching “over-the-air” broadcasts. This means you must plug in an antenna to pause the Live TV.
There are other ways to watch live TV on the Roku Ultra that you can pause whatever you’re watching. You can also go about getting local channels on your Roku Ultra too.
Watching Live TV on the Roku Channel
Watching live TV on the Roku Channel is easy and, best of all, free. You can sign onto the Roku Channel from any device to access this app, including the web. This is a great way for you to find a variety of shows and networks streaming live to your Roku Ultra.
Live TV Channel Guide
Not sure what is going to be on? Well, the great thing about The Roku Channel is that it also has a “Live TV Channel Guide” that lets you see what is coming up and when. Think of when you had cable or satellite TV and could see the channels, times, and shows coming on. That is exactly what the Live TV Channel Guide allows you to do on The Roku Channel.
You can access the channel guide by looking for the “Live TV” tile on the Home menu of The Roku Channel. Selecting this tile will allow you to access the Live TV Channel Guide.
Third-Party Apps that Allow you to Pause Live TV
There are third-party apps on your Roku Ultra that will allow you to pause and, sometimes, record Live TV. Below we will explore some of these options.
Hulu Live
The first one we are going to look at is Hulu Live. Hulu Live TV (now with Disney Plus and ESPN) is relatively affordable per month with the ability to add additional content. These add-ons are
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Now that can get pretty pricey when added up. Still, the great thing about Hulu is that it gives you an Unlimited DVR feature. This means that you can record programs from over 80 channels and do an unlimited amount on your account. Before, it would automatically delete old content when it hit a certain amount, but this is no more.
Fubo TV
Fubo TV is the next one on the list. This one is famous for its sports channels. These have four different offerings. Here are the things you need to know about each one:
Fubo TV allows you to pause a live stream and start back up at your paused point. You can also jump to where the program is currently “live” on that current stream, and rewind to the point you started streaming.
Sling TV
The final option for pausing Live TV we will look at is Sling TV. Sling has three different types. They all have 50 hours of DVR storage; the only things that change are prices and the number of devices allowed to stream. The best one is probably the “Orange & Blue,” which is 50 dollars a month and allows up to three devices to stream and 47 channels.
Sling TV is also great because you can access local channels for free with your Sling account. These include local news channels, NFL football, and more.
The ability to pause on Sling TV is called “Time-Shifting.” These are available on all Sling TV offerings. You can also Skip to Live if you have paused your programing and want to continue with the program’s schedule.
Pausing Live TV on Roku Ultra
It is impossible to pause Live TV on your Roku Ultra without even using The Roku Channel. While that is not exactly encouraging, third-party apps like Hulu Live, Fubo TV, and Sling TV will give you what you are looking for in regards to that control.
So, unless you are willing to look into a Roku TV, one of these third-party apps will give you the power and control to “cut the cord” on your cable and satellite TV.
