DIRECTV Now has moved the ESPN-owned Longhorn Network from a national channel available to most subscribers to a regional sports channel that can be watched largely only in Texas.
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The move, which became effective May 11, means that the DIRECTV Now viewership for the Texas-themed sports network will be greatly diminished.
The DIRECTV Now ‘zip code’ local channel finder shows that the Longhorn Network is now available in Texas, but not in neighboring states such as Oklahoma and Arkansas, or apparently any other state in the nation.
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For ESPN, which owns the Longhorn Network, the move comes at a bad time. The sports network is trying to turnaround declining ratings for all of its channels, including ESPN itself, and the loss of most of the DIRECTV Now customer base won’t help.
DIRECTV Now previously offered the Longhorn Network to anyone who subscribed to the ‘Just Right’ $50-a-month package and above. Only the base ‘Live a Little’ $35 a month plan did not include the Longhorn Network.
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So then, are you saying that the Longhorn Network will now be available to Direct TV NOW users also???
Randall, the LHN channel had been available to all Directv Now subscribers except the base package subscribers for a while. As you can read the article, it says that Directv Now modified the availability of the LHN channel so now ONLY regional Directv Now subscribers, under qualified package plans, can watch it.
Signed up to get this Texas longhorn network on direct tv and so far can’t get it. Channel 677 does not even show up in channel guide on direct TV guide. Tech report could not say why not working. I’m in Iowa and am waiting for them to get back to me about this.