Sling TV last night experienced another tough night trying to stream the NBA Finals to its customers, but this time the technical issue was a little different.
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While some complained on social media sites that their ESPN 3 stream of game two would cut out after a few seconds, most fans were upset because they couldn’t find the game listed in their ESPN 3 guide lineup. If a program isn’t listed in the guide, there’s no way to tune in.
(Note: Game two of the NBA Finals was broadcast by ABC, but Sling TV only carries the network’s affiliates in roughly a half-dozen markets due to licensing restrictions. Consequently, Sling had notified subscribers to its ‘Orange’ package that they could watch the game on ESPN3, which would live stream it.)
“Hey @SlingTV why is the #nbafinals not streaming as advertised by you? I’ve checked multiple devices and no go,” wrote @zrogers911 on Twitter.
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Sling TV’s Twitter customer service team, @SlingAnswers, responded during the game that the game was listed in the guide. But it acknowledged that users might have to log out of the Sling TV app and log back in before they could see it listed.
“It’s still there. Please exit out of the app and go back into it. Some how it was moved but that has been resolved. JH,” wrote @slinganswers.
Some customers responded that they shouldn’t have to log in and out of Sling TV to watch the game, and added they were skeptical that would change anything.
“That was the response during game 1 and again today for game 2. I’ll pay someone that can actually provide the service they claim,” wrote @TheRealQubort.
But the Sling customer service team assured their customers that logging in and out would work.
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“It actually works, maybe you have to do it two or three times. It actually works. -LL” @slinganswers told one subscriber.
Sling TV also experienced various streaming errors during game one of the Cavaliers-Warriors finals.
It’s unclear how many customers were affected by last night’s technical snafus. DownDetector.com, which tracks online outages, reported fewer complaints from Sling customers on social media sites compared to game one. But Twitter last night was overflowing with protests from NBA fans trying to stream the game on Sling.
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Last night’s issue was another example of the difficulty of live streaming during a high-profile event. Due to excessive traffic, live streaming services have sometimes been unable to deliver a consistent picture, or in some cases, any picture at all.
— Phillip Swann
