Q. I couldn’t access DIRECTV Now yesterday for several hours. Did they have an outage or was it just me? — Cleve, Reno, Nevada.

Cleve, it was not just you. In fact, thousands of subscribers to the live streaming service posted messages yesterday on social media sites saying they couldn’t watch any channel on the live streaming service.

Click Amazon: Today’s Deals of the Day.
Click Amazon: Roku Ultra 4K Player: $112
See Amazon’s Best-Selling Streaming Devices!

DownDetector.com, which tracks online outages, says 1,076 people were complaining at the same time during the height of the technical issue, which appeared to occur between 12 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET.

When 1,076 people are complaining simultaneously during a technical issue, that usually means it’s affecting dozens of thousands, if not more. (Not everyone posts a notice on social media during an online snafu.)

The timing of the outage was not good, although one could argue that no outage is well-timed. With Monday being Columbus Day, many Americans had the day off and they wanted to settle in to watch some MLB playoff action on their live streaming service of choice. (The Cleveland Indians were facing the Houston Astros at 1:30 p.m. ET while the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing the Atlanta Braves at 4:30 p.m. ET.)

for me right now,” wrote @RainmakerRoxy on Twitter, suggesting a move to a rival live streaming service. “I find it INCREDIBLY ANNOYING that the blackout happened around one of the biggest baseball games of the season thus far for people in Cleveland and Houston. Frankly, I think we’re owed more than an apology.”

DIRECTV Now’s Twitter customer help team posted a message at 4:36 p.m. that said the problem had been solved. The streamer never said what caused it.

“We’ve resolved the issue affecting DIRECTV NOW. Happy Streaming!” @DIRECTVNowHelp tweeted at 4:36 p.m. ET.

However, some users said they still couldn’t log in with their user name and passwords. DIRECTV Now then advised uninstalling the DIRECTV Now app, reinstalling it and then trying to log in again. (Several people posted messages saying that method fixed their problem.)

Like other live streaming services, DIRECTV Now has experienced technical issues from time to time since its launch in November 2016. But the service has improved in recent months, experiencing relatively few major technical glitches.

But yesterday’s outage was another reminder that live television distributed over the Internet is still a work in progress.

Need to buy something today? Please buy it using this Amazon.com link. This site receives a small portion of each purchase, which helps us continue to provide these articles.

Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.

— Phillip Swann