By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – @tvanswerman
Today was the first Sunday of regular season NFL games and the long-awaited premiere of the NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels appears to be a hit. As promised, Google’s two streaming services offered the Ticket’s out-of-market games in 1080p HD and they looked sensational, if not quite as sensational as a 4K picture might. Even better, there were few reports of technical glitches and some users said the dreaded live sports streaming delay was minimal, perhaps less than 15 seconds behind the action via a TV antenna or cable or satellite provider. The YouTube services also offered multiple Multiview feeds of the action, which showed four games on one screen at the same time, or three games and the NFL RedZone channel. All in all, as of this writing at 3:40 p.m. ET, Google must be feeling pleased with its Ticket debut.
In contrast, the NFL Sunday opening day was not so kind to Comcast which experienced a major technical meltdown on its Xfinity Stream app shortly after the 1 p.m. kickoff. Numerous Xfinity users said they couldn’t access the app which allows Comcast’s TV subscribers to watch video on the go. The Xfinity X customer service team said this afternoon that the Stream issues were under investigation.
The NFL app, the home of the NFL Plus service, also experienced technical glitches this afternoon, according to many users who complained of being unable to sign in.
Anyone else having issues with the @NFL app? pic.twitter.com/hOYsPDHiuM
— Eli Blumenthal (@eliblumenthal) September 10, 2023
@NFL app on @Apple TV crashes every hour or so. Lots of people are having this issue on here. When are you going to fix this?
— Chris Patrick (@chrispatricknyc) September 10, 2023
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
Was,terrible trying to watch Steelers game in DC. They kept putting thus Zen ad once twice for 5 minutes each in a,row missed several minutes of the game. It was,à horrible expérience.