Hey there readers, I want to ask all of you a question. I personally get the STARZ app through my DIRECTV package. But, for about the last year, it’s been acting a little weird. Well, a lot weird. And while I’ve figured out the way around it, I am curious if anyone can tell me if this is a “just me” problem, or if it’s something you all are seeing as well.
The setup
First of all, I want to tell you how I’m set up, at least a little bit. As I said, I subscribe to STARZ through DIRECTV. This means that I have access to the STARZ app on my streaming equipment as well. I have Roku, Apple, and Samsung streaming devices. The problem is specifically with my Apple equipment, which is the only one that uses a “single-sign-on” system. With Apple devices, you can tell it what your TV provider is, and it will store those credentials in the cloud rather than having you type them in every time.
The problem
About once a week — usually on Saturdays for some reason — the STARZ app fails to launch. It says there’s a connection problem, and my only choices are RETRY or EXIT APP. There clearly isn’t a connection problem, all my other apps run fine.
I can fix the problem by deleting and re-adding the app. This prompts me to tell it to use my DIRECTV subscription again, and then I’m fine for a while.
I’m guessing that this is a two-part problem. It’s pretty likely that the STARZ app is only doing a username/password check about once a week, and that’s when the error happens. The rest of the time it’s just staying logged in. I’m also guessing that it’s some sort of miscommunication with DIRECTV’s authentication system, which seems to be provided by Adobe for some reason. And, unfortunately, something isn’t quite right with the way the app is written, because instead of saying something like “we couldn’t log in, do you want to log in with different credentials?” it just retries the same thing and so you don’t get anywhere. Deleting the app deletes the stored credentials and gets you back to the login screen.
Is it just me?
I want to believe I’m not the only person with this problem, but Google seems to think differently. I realize STARZ isn’t the most popular platform. And yeah, Apple isn’t the most popular streaming box, and I realize that not everyone gets STARZ through DIRECTV. But I have to believe that if this were a problem with the code and not just a problem with me, someone somewhere would have talked about it online. Could I be the first one? That would be weird since I’ve had the problem for a long time.
The most likely explanation is that it’s something hinky with my DIRECTV account, which sometimes happens to us customers who have been around for 20 years or so. I went about 6 months without being able to get on demand content at one point, and it was because something in my profile had gotten messed up as it was moved from system to system.
Maybe it’s just me, or maybe I’m literally the only one who meets all the unique variables required to create the problem. Maybe it’s a cross-section of people who have had DIRECTV for 20 years, people who subscribe to STARZ, people who have Apple hardware, people who use the “TV Provider” functionality, and people who care that their streaming app doesn’t work. I guess that’s a pretty small group, but I can’t imagine it’s a group of just one, right?
So, I’m writing this article hoping to capture at least one other person who is having this problem. If I don’t, I’ll just assume it’s me and I’ll live with it. As I said, I have figured out how to fix it, it’s just annoying.
