The KXNO Drive got off the air at 6 pm last night, and I headed home. It was dark for the first time since moving to afternoons because of the time change, which is depressing enough. But hey, there's basketball to watch when I get home! Iowa's playing in the car RIGHT NOW! Let's get home, fire up both games on two TV's, have a cocktail, and watch some hoops!
Not so fast, said ESPN+, a service I pay for in an assumed agreement that it will work when called upon. Iowa's game was on ESPNU, working just fine from YouTubeTV. But when I called up the Iowa State-IUPUI game on ESPN Plus (aka The Ocho), it stopped streaming not long after the first TV timeout. After first blaming our WiFi connection, a quick check on Twitter told me my cohost Sean and lots of fans at home were having the same issue. Buffering, freezing, and displaying the dreaded "GAME NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR PROVIDER OR TRY AGAIN" or something like that.
There's no trying again, ESPN. Either the game is streaming, or it isn't. Either I'm seeing what I paid to see, or I'm not. And with more NCAA contracts tied to TV deals that include streaming, that service needs to run as flawlessly as possible.
Get it together, ESPN!
Sincerely,
Paying sports fans
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