DIRECTV’s Sunday Ticket suffered widespread technical issues today with the Red Zone and Fantasy Zone channels missing from the lineup of many subscribers.
Shortly after today’s 1 p.m. kickoff, hundreds of subscribers of DIRECTV’s satellite edition of the Ticket began posting complaints on social media sites saying the channels were not available.
And, as of 6:10 p.m. ET today, many customers were writing on Twitter that the channels were still out.
“Yo @DIRECTV where’s my Sunday ticket and Red Zone that I paid for? Get it together,” wrote @PJPetrides on Twitter today.
“Hey @DIRECTV how about putting an update on your website or Twitter account letting us know why Red Zone isn’t working? No customer service!” said @ErinRaeAK
AT&T has acknowledged that some customers are not getting the Red Zone and Fantasy channels. Here is the company’s statement:
“We are aware of a service issue affecting some DIRECTV customers with FANTASY ZONE™ and RED ZONE CHANNEL®. We’re working to resolve it as quickly as possible. We thank our customers for their patience.”
The Red Zone and Fantasy channels are only available to subscribers of DIRECTV’s more expensive ‘Max’ edition of the Sunday Ticket, not the basic Ticket plan. So it’s possible that some customers have been complaining today that they don’t have the two channels because they don’t realize they are not in their plan. That actually happened last year, as I noted in this September 18, 2016 tweet.
They wouldn’t notice the absence on their satellite systems until now, week two of the season, because the first week of games and the two channels were available to everyone as a free preview.
(If you’re not familiar with the Red Zone channel, it offers live views of games when one team is inside its opponent’s 20-yard-line. The Fantasy Zone channel offers individual statistics for subscribers who are active in ‘fantasy football’ leagues.)
Several Max subscribers today told the TV Answer Man that they have been able to watch the Red Zone channel while some said they could not, suggesting the blackout has not been system–wide.
In addition to the Red Zone issue, some customers say they’ve had trouble logging into the Sunday Ticket live stream which is available to all subscribers to the satellite package of NFL Sunday games.
— Phillip Swann
I was surprised to read this article. I had zero issues yesterday on both my tv or via stream.
Here was my situation. I was all set up this year with auto-renewal for Sunday Ticket Max…. in fact, DTV had already billed me two of the six monthly payments. Then I get a flyer from DTV saying they were giving me Sunday Ticket for free. They then credited my account for what I had previously paid, however, they really didn’t specify if they were giving me Regular or Max for free. I guess it was Regular since I didn’t get the Max yesterday.
Why does everything that management group touch turn to ****?
It’s the Reverse Midas Touch.