Streaming service Vidgo is offering credits and discounts to customers after suffering from a prolonged outage that affected access to its apps on phones, tablets and smart TVs.
The service disruption was caused by a third-party vendor Vidgo uses to power parts of its app, which offers dozens of cable channels via the Internet.
In a note sent to customers and forwarded to The Desk by a Vidgo executive, the company says the vendor “changed the terms on Vidgo in the middle of a contract and forced the new terms on Vidgo after business hours on a Friday night.”
With Vidgo unable to respond to the new terms in time, the vendor pulled support for the streaming service, leaving customers unable to stream channels from within the Vidgo app itself. Vidgo says subscriptions are still active, and customers can use their login credentials to stream live and on-demand content through TV Everywhere apps like ESPN, ABC, Fox Sports, Fox News and Discovery Go.
Vidgo is offering extended service credits that will see current customers get two free weeks, as well as $10 off their monthly plans for the next six months, or until they cancel their service, whichever comes first.
Meanwhile, Vidgo says it is still trying to resolve the issue with the vendor, and has sent a legal-esque “demand letter” to the unnamed third-party to get things going once again.
It is at least the third service disruption to impact Vidgo in the past year. Vidgo suffered two other outages — the first in June and the second in mid-September — both of which were resolved after a few hours.
The issues come at a time when Vidgo is trying to position itself as a premium destination for professional and college sports — the service carries top-tier sports channels like ESPN, ESPN 2 and Fox Sports 1 as well as niche sports networks like Longhorn Network, ACC Network, Big 10 Network and Pac-12 Network — with plans starting at $70 a month.
Last year, executives at Vidgo said their overall strategy was to reach cord-cutters in the heartland of the country who were underserved by cable, satellite and larger streaming services like YouTube TV, Fubo and DirecTV Stream. To accomplish this, Vidgo has focused on signing programming deals with media firms that offer right-of-center news channels and college sports networks over general entertainment channels and broadcast stations.
