Amalie Benjamin, Globe - DirectTV out?

I've been getting emails from DirecTV customers, who've said that their packages (ESPN2 and NESN) are out. Not sure if this is affecting all customers, or just some, but apparently there are some very unhappy early risers.

Sorry about that. Wish I could do something from Tokyo, but the blog posts will have to do.

We're happy to have you with us. (And non-DirecTV customers as well.)

163 comments so far...

I feel like a complete sap for falling for Bud Selig's "we're only going to offer EI on DirecTV" statement last winter. Now I'm stuck with these clowns for another year. Dumb dumb dumb dumb.

It worked fine on Direct TV HD in New York. Great game.

HD wasn't affected, you rich, stuck up sob.
If I wake up tomorrow and the game isn't working, I'm going jihad on their asses.

So that's two on my list to go jihad on:
1. Dust mites (they're killing me)
2. DirecTV (If they fail to come through tomorrow A.M)

Based on the reply I just got from DirecTV to my complaint about today's game, it sounds like you should plan on strapping on your bomb vest tomorrow morning:

"Thanks for writing. When I reviewed your account, I found that you subscribed to the MLB Extra Innings for 2008 season. Please know that the regular season will start on 03/30/2008. With regard to the technical problems you've been having on some of your channels today, our team is aware of this issue and we are working to restore normal service. We apologize for this inconvenience and we appreciate your patience.

Eric Wilbur, Globe - No sox, no service

Well, that went smoothly.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong in an oft-criticized opener in Japan, it’s hard to imagine anything worse than TV coverage going kaput for the folks back home. Not only did DirecTV’s ESPN2 and NESN feeds come over blank, in certain sections of Massachusetts, Comcast customers got the early morning denial as well. Nobody can definitively explain if the two issues are related.

Similar situations arose across New England – across the country – this morning, when thousands of Red Sox and A’s fans woke up at the crack of dawn or the middle of the night to catch Opening Day in Japan, only to be greeted by a darkness that could have ideally still been from the back of their eyelids.

No game. Only disconnect.

This is Major League Baseball Opening Day in Japan. A monumental nightmare for many stateside.

According to a Comcast spokesperson, an accident in the North Attleborough area caused issues for Comcast customers in southeastern Massachusetts. No NESN. No ESPN2. No HGTV, which is how I found out our home was affected when I received an early morning panic call from my wife, who evidently needed a strong Suzanne Whang fix in lieu of watching ongoing rebuilding project Daisuke Matsuzaka before work.

DirecTV customers have had a decidedly more difficult time getting to the root of their problem, one user finally being told it was an issue with the receiver software, causing widespread outages. When I finally reached a DirecTV customer service rep at 9:40 this morning, I was told a transponder went out with no further information available.

ESPN2 was blacked out for me but both NESN feeds worked fine.

I never have these problems with Cox Cable.

*Insert angry, inappropriate joke involving the phrase "Cox Cable" here*

I LOVE the avatar.

Out here in L.A. both NESN SD & HD were out as well as ESPN SD. Only ESPN HD was working. It's weird that people had different outages in different parts of the country.
Hopefully it'll all be fixed by tomorrow.

I wound up trying to watch the Red Sox opener at a small bar in Cambridge known as the Cellar at 991 Mass Avenue. The owners who I have known for years even promised a book signing by a local author. ( Cambridge??????)

Wound up watching the DirecTV logo bouncing on the TV and hearing the game on radio.

Even the author was smart enough to avoid the place.......... ( Cambridge??????)

Yeah, that's Cambridge.

You'd know him because he'd be rocking the Daisy Dukes.

I wouldn't be as upset if it also didn't turn out that the HD feed was fine. You see my roommates and I have been trying to set up HD for months. Service is more expensive and we'd be picking up our first DVR recorder - spending some serious extra dough. The new HD box should be free, right? It is, after all, free for new customers. But not - it's $300 or so to us - we've been loyal customers for two years - they can abuse us however they want.

I got up at 5:45 on my ONLY day off in two weeks from March Madness. Oh, and around noon I got an email that I was wait-listed for grad school. A totally ah-sum day off. Thanks!