DirecTV fans are freaking out after service blacks out during coronavirus quarantine. AT&T's Satellite giant DirecTV went dark in much of the country for 15 minutes earlier tonight.
The screens iced up or just went black in millions of houses that haven't cord cut yet as partners bickered over who turned off the television as some actual social distancing grew.
Empty steps of seats in AT&T Park, San Francisco
While 15 minutes without TV isn't always inherently a purpose for alarm, it can be frustrating to assume that it could happen once more at a moment's notice. Additionally, the outage taking location throughout top TV hours meant some of the blackouts impacted immensely popular programs.
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#DirecTVDown is it?
Though you missed your favorite shows, hashtag #DirecTVDown had time to capture fire on social media as the service appeared to reboot at the top of the hour. Still, for the ones long 15 minutes or so, things had been looking quite bleak for tonight's primetime.
Deadline reported that tech webpage Downdetector started out seeing a spike in users detailing troubles at 5:45 PM PT, with most pronouncing the signal had been lost. That saw clients all around the USA take to Twitter, and different social media systems to vent as customer service lines started to go back.
DirecTV is having issues since 8:48 PM EDT. https://t.co/O0gYpdG4BO RT if it's down for you as well #DirecTVdown — Downdetector (@downdetector) March 19, 2020
The apparent outage became targeting the West Coast, the eastern half of the Lone Star state, and up and down the East Coast.
Missed the Masked Singer? Why?!
Brief outages are commonplace for DirecTV, but one so widespread that appears to have started and ended around the same time for everybody is unusual.
So I’m watching my new favorite show @MaskedSingerFOX, and a few min before they were going to unmask someone, my @DIRECTV decided to do a reboot!!! WHY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/8y7dWeMm6D — Tammy Shaw #Loveeternal ️ (@Tammy_Shaw) March 19, 2020
Representatives for DirecTV did not respond to Deadline's request for comment or explanation over the issue. Oddly in today's age of social media, the provider additionally did not take to Twitter or Facebook to reply to their customer's outrage.
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The pandemic and resulting self-isolation around the country has had a crippling effect on the entertainment industry. Box office receipts have plummeted as theaters closed their door for indefinite periods of time. Film and TV productions have been positioned on hold as a way to keep away from spreading the virus. Meanwhile, initiatives that have already been completed are being delayed or, in some cases, released as direct-to-streaming projects.
The COVID-19 novel coronavirus is seeing a comparable exponential boom in the United States right now to what happened in Italy some weeks ago. Countries had a spike in cases (and related fatalities), and the authorities have needed to impose stricter quarantines and lockdowns.
Americans are living in a sovereign nation of emergency. In many states, all non-essential companies had been ordered closed to help quarantine residents and to keep them from contacting the coronavirus. Almost every store had been closed down and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged the Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 50 people.
