DIRECTV Now suffered more technical problems last night with hundreds of subscribers posting complaints at social media sites that they could not watch the season seven debut of Game of Thrones on HBO.
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The live streaming service has had recurring technical issues since its debut last November, but AT&T, which owns DIRECTV and DIRECTV Now, recently said the problems have largely been resolved.
But several hours before the 9 p.m. ET premiere of Game of Thrones, numerous subscribers began posting messages saying they could not watch a single channel on DIRECTV Now while some said the problem only affected HBO.
When they tried to watch DIRECTV Now, they said, a ‘1501 or 1502’ error message displayed, which the streamer says means there is a loading issue.
“.@DIRECTVNowHelp @directvnow I’m getting QP1502 @qp1502 errors on every channel today. What is going on? Thought this was fixed months ago?,” wrote ‘Gabriel Johnson’ on Twitter at 4:51 p.m. ET.
It’s unclear how many subscribers were affected, but DownDetector.com, which tracks online outages, reported hundreds of people posted complaints regarding DIRECTV Now. The problem continued through the night, and into this morning, according to some customers.
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“Hey DirectTV Now, where is my refund or do I have to file fraud charges? This isn’t going away..waiting,” tweeted ‘Carma’ at 4:51 a.m. ET this morning.
“@directvnow totally missed #GOT7 premier because of your terrible service. Thanks a bunch,” added ‘Officer SweetChuck.’ early this morning.
During last night when the number of complaints was highest, DIRECTV Now’s official Twitter page never acknowledged there was an issue with its service. The streamer instead replied to a small number of Twitter users, apologizing for ‘any inconvenience’ they may be having.
However, @DIRECTVNowHelp, its Twitter customer service team, began posting messages this morning saying whatever issue was preventing the service from loadng had been resolved.
“Restart and “Give it another try. It should work now,” the live streaming service wrote this morning on Twitter.
Live streaming services, such as DIRECTV Now, Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, have suffered widespread technical issues since they began operations a few years ago, particularly during high-profile broadcasts. Many industry experts have acknowledged that the live streaming infrastructure is simply not ready to handle a large number of viewers.
HBO’s web site, HBO.com, and HBO Go, the premium channel’s streaming service for pay TV subscribers, also suffered technical problems last night. But while one report said HBO.com crashed during Game of Thrones, HBO said the streaming issues were largely restricted to Latin America, not the United States.
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Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and Hulu Live were the subject of relatively few complaints last night, according to DownDetector.com.
— Phillip Swann
