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Vidgo service still offline one week after technical issues

In an email to customers, Vidgo apologized for the lengthy disruption and reiterated its offer of bill credits.

In an email to customers, Vidgo apologized for the lengthy disruption and reiterated its offer of bill credits.

Vidgo says it offers the biggest value in live sports programming.
Vidgo says it offers the biggest value in live sports programming. (Graphic by The Desk)

Vidgo says it is still trying to restore live TV channels for its customers after a third-party vendor triggered a service disruption last week.

The issue, which started about a week ago, has left customers of the $70 a month streaming TV service unable to watch channels like ABC, ESPN, Fox News and NFL Network from within Vidgo’s apps for phones, tablets and smart TVs.

Login credentials for Vidgo continue to work with “TV Everywhere” apps offered by around 30 television networks. But the situation means customers can’t watch around 70 other television channels offered through Vidgo Plus, the streamer’s base programming package, until the situation is resolved.

Vidgo said it was offering customers a two-week bill credit to make up for the issue, with the credit applied on a subscriber’s next billing date. The streamer is also offering a $10 discount off all Vidgo plans over the next six months for current customers who stick with the service through the outage.

“We deeply value your loyalty as we work through this issue and will provide additional updates as they become available,” a spokesperson for Vidgo told customers on Thursday.

The issue started last Friday after the vendor — who still has not been named — attempted to impose new business terms on Vidgo, then abruptly pulled their technology from its streaming platform, an executive with the company told The Desk.

Officials at Vidgo expected the vendor to reconnect their technology on Monday, which would have restored access to live programming, but that ultimately did not happen. The company later said the situation would be resolved “soon,” but did not offer a specific time frame, leaving customers with little information about when they’ll be able to access the channels they’ve paid for.

A source familiar with the matter said the issue is unrelated to a lawsuit filed by Dish Network, which accuses Vidgo of violating various patents related to adaptive bitrate technology, which adjusts the video quality of a live stream based on a viewer’s Internet connection.

A spokesperson for Vidgo said they believe the Dish lawsuit has no merit.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

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