The uncertainty of live streaming reared its ugly head again today on the first Sunday of the NFL’s 2022 season when several live streaming services reported technical issues with NFL-related programming, including the NFL Sunday Ticket and the NFL RedZone Channel.
Live streaming glitches have become almost expected for high-profile events in recent years with technical problems interrupting everything from the Super Bowl to the Oscars to the first or last episode of series such as HBO’s Game of Thrones.
But thousands of viewers today reported on social media sites that they were unable to log in to the online Sunday Ticket or watch the NFL RedZone channel without various picture interruptions caused by technical problems.
At one point the problem became so bad that DIRECTV issued a statement to CNET that online Sunday Ticket subscribers might want to switch to the satellite version. (DIRECTV’s Sunday Ticket satellite subscribers get free access to the streaming version as well.)
“We’re aware some customers (have been) unable to access NFL Sunday Ticket online or through the app. In the meantime, we recommend satellite customers to watch on TV,” the company said.
Sling TV issued a statement on Twitter noting that it was having issues with the RedZone Channel but subscribers to other live streaming services reported similar problems with the popular NFL channel.
“RedZone has been restored but some devices may still be experiencing issues. If you are still experiencing issues streaming RedZone, please try another device while we work on this issue. Thank you for your patience,” Sling TV said in the tweet.
Despite live streaming’s history of unreliability in highly-viewed events, many viewers today still seemed surprised that they were encountering issues.
Not a great start to the season: the TV Everywhere stream of RedZone is not working for me on the NFL website. The page reloads once I authenticate my provider. pic.twitter.com/Nn4mTjhSDa
— Sports TV News & Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) September 11, 2022
@Sling Why is my Redzone not working?
— larry stanley (@bigbadlarry) September 11, 2022
Anyone else having issues with RedZone on NFL app not working on a smart TV through cable authentication? pic.twitter.com/ksK8uBcBwu
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) September 11, 2022
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