Updated: DirecTV Transmission Glitch Freezes Set-Tops
Satellite Operator Says Issue Unrelated to Multiroom DVR Rollout
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 6/8/2010 3:40:05 PM
A DirecTV transmission glitch early Tuesday morning affecting customers' HD digital video recorders resulted in numerous complaints of set-top boxes either not responding or constantly rebooting.
"DirecTV has fixed the problem and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused them," spokesman Robert Mercer said.
DirecTV provided a link on its homepage Tuesday that said, "Follow these steps to resolve issues you may be experiencing with your receiver."
According to the satellite operator's instructions, customers whose set-top boxes are not responding must flip down the box's front panel and hold the red button. "Be patient as the box may take up to one minute to respond to this reset," DirecTV's customer-service message said.
After the set-top reboots once, customers must hold down the red button again to reboot the box a second time, which should resolve the issue, according to DirecTV.
It was not clear how many DirecTV customers have been affected. On Twitter, dozens of messages complained about the DVR issue and several said DirecTV's customer-service phone number at 800-DIRECTV was busy.
"DirecTV, you are not impressing me today," wrote one Twitter user. "Apparently every HD DVR in the country will not stop re-booting...including mine."
According to DirecTV, the glitch Tuesday freezing DVRs was unrelated to its Whole-Home DVR service, announced on Monday.
The multiroom DVR service, available for an additional $3 per month, is supposed to let customers record and watch programs in up to 15 rooms in their home with a single HD DVR. Non-DVR set-tops are still required for each TV a customer wants to use to access the DVR recordings. The company has launched a national print, broadcast and online advertising campaign to promote the multiroom DVR service.
DirecTV, the largest U.S. direct-broadcast satellite operator, had 18.7 million subscribers as of the end of March.-
I live in MA. We have had Direct TV for a 1 1/2 yrs. This TV reboots constantly...I have lost count on how many times a day it does that. The excuse I got was...bad weather in the area...the Sun was shining brightly, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky at the time....then I was told..."well if there is bad weather in a close by town..that will interupt service too". I give up complaining...it just waste my breath and my time....
Karen - 6/8/2010 10:50:40 PM EDT -
Both of my DVR was out and guess what, phone line busy.Tried about fifteen times then decided to try myself.Finally got a picture but would not change channels. After rebooting again it worked.Thanks Direct TV for your great customer service ): Try answering the phone next time!!!!!!!
Dillard Mason - 6/8/2010 10:47:03 PM EDT -
This happened to us today and we live in Oakdale,MN
I think I called at least 20 times.. The line was either busy or call would not go through, finally after about an hour on the phone we got a message telling us how to corect the problem.
Jane Hanson - 6/8/2010 10:07:45 PM EDT
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