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ESPN on ATV

T

tawcat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Supposedly we should be able to setup and watch ESPN. I've gone through the process, selected ATT U-Verse, went to the es.pn/apple web site, entered the activation code, and got the successful message.

Turned on the TV went to ATV, selected Watch ESPN, and selected a college game live on ESPN, goes through the loading process, and gives me a message, that this channel is not in our viewing package.

Not sure I understand, we don't have ATT U-Verse TV, only have ATT U-Verse internet, might be the reason.

Any one know?
 
Probably. You need to have ESPN on your TV package in order to use the Watch ESPN app. In other words, you need to already be an ESPN (TV) subscriber.
 
tawcat said:
Supposedly we should be able to setup and watch ESPN. I've gone through the process, selected ATT U-Verse, went to the es.pn/apple web site, entered the activation code, and got the successful message.

Turned on the TV went to ATV, selected Watch ESPN, and selected a college game live on ESPN, goes through the loading process, and gives me a message, that this channel is not in our viewing package.

Not sure I understand, we don't have ATT U-Verse TV, only have ATT U-Verse internet, might be the reason.

Any one know?
Click to expand...

you need to be subscribed. only really useful for secondary TVs, where you may not to or can't put another cable/sat box
 
You should be able to watch ESPN3 without the TV subscription as access to that is included with U-Verse internet, but you cannot watch any of their other channels.
 
So, we are getting ESPN3, however, it's barely watchable. At times its clear and near perfect, but then we get a very fuzzy picture, lots of freeze ups etc.

ATV is linked to our Air Express network, not sure if there are other setting adjustments I can make.

Any ideas?
 
tawcat said:
So, we are getting ESPN3, however, it's barely watchable. At times its clear and near perfect, but then we get a very fuzzy picture, lots of freeze ups etc.

ATV is linked to our Air Express network, not sure if there are other setting adjustments I can make.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Try cat 5 cable if you have lots of people living around you
 
tawcat said:
Supposedly we should be able to setup and watch ESPN. I've gone through the process, selected ATT U-Verse, went to the es.pn/apple web site, entered the activation code, and got the successful message.

Turned on the TV went to ATV, selected Watch ESPN, and selected a college game live on ESPN, goes through the loading process, and gives me a message, that this channel is not in our viewing package.

Not sure I understand, we don't have ATT U-Verse TV, only have ATT U-Verse internet, might be the reason.

Any one know?
Click to expand...

are you a subscriber?
 
Watch ESPN has so much promise yet is such a waste for relying on TV subscriptions.

I'm about to cut the cord because I'm sick of dealing with these mistaken $18 hardware charges, the last straw in paying above $50 for pretty much broadcast and cable programming I might watch every now and then. But yes, I would like ESPN access from time to time. But I'm not going to deal with $40/month bare minimum to get it.

The Apple TV remains in the "hobby" realm as does the Roku and anything similar because the content providers are living in 1999. Whatever the cost is for the gamut of ESPN channels, I think most of us would pay to have access to that app on our iOS devices and Apple TVs. I would pay probably $8 or $10 just for ESPN and ESPN2.

But no, we've got to go through the satellite and cable providers. I think most of us have wanted a la carte forever, but we keep on getting blocked. Some people resort to piracy to get the content even though there are plenty of people willing to pay. It's just like the late 1990s Napster days before the iTunes store. Hopefully history will repeat itself and we'll get this stuff via the Internet soon. Otherwise, I'll just deal with Hulu Plus and Netflix.
 
Michael CM1 said:
Watch ESPN has so much promise yet is such a waste for relying on TV subscriptions.

I'm about to cut the cord because I'm sick of dealing with these mistaken $18 hardware charges, the last straw in paying above $50 for pretty much broadcast and cable programming I might watch every now and then. But yes, I would like ESPN access from time to time. But I'm not going to deal with $40/month bare minimum to get it.

The Apple TV remains in the "hobby" realm as does the Roku and anything similar because the content providers are living in 1999. Whatever the cost is for the gamut of ESPN channels, I think most of us would pay to have access to that app on our iOS devices and Apple TVs. I would pay probably $8 or $10 just for ESPN and ESPN2.

But no, we've got to go through the satellite and cable providers. I think most of us have wanted a la carte forever, but we keep on getting blocked. Some people resort to piracy to get the content even though there are plenty of people willing to pay. It's just like the late 1990s Napster days before the iTunes store. Hopefully history will repeat itself and we'll get this stuff via the Internet soon. Otherwise, I'll just deal with Hulu Plus and Netflix.
Click to expand...

if you're single and only watch sports then a la carte might be for you. but multiple people in a household you will end up paying the same or close to what cable tv costs if not more since you will have to pay for multiple credit card processing fees and billing systems and not just your cable provider

----------
tawcat said:
Cat 5 cable?
Click to expand...

yep

i have 40 wifi networks around me. all my streaming is via cat 5. when i was on wifi i had nothing but problems since everyone is using the same few frequencies
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawcat View Post
Cat 5 cable?
yep

i have 40 wifi networks around me. all my streaming is via cat 5. when i was on wifi i had nothing but problems since everyone is using the same few frequencies


So, can someone explain how to do this Cat 5 cable thing? Thanks
 
tawcat said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawcat View Post
Cat 5 cable?
yep

i have 40 wifi networks around me. all my streaming is via cat 5. when i was on wifi i had nothing but problems since everyone is using the same few frequencies


So, can someone explain how to do this Cat 5 cable thing? Thanks
Click to expand...

go buy cat5 cable
plug into your apple tv
plug other end into your router
go into apple tv settings and make sure it says ethernet instead of wifi
 
tawcat said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by tawcat View Post
Cat 5 cable?
yep

i have 40 wifi networks around me. all my streaming is via cat 5. when i was on wifi i had nothing but problems since everyone is using the same few frequencies


So, can someone explain how to do this Cat 5 cable thing? Thanks
Click to expand...

Cat 5 or Cat 6 just refers to Ethernet cable. You know what that is right? Generally speaking, it's a better idea to hard-wire (Ethernet) your entertainment devices into your home network rather than rely on wifi, because as others have sort of mentioned, having a lot of wifi networks around can lead to interference and slow things down (bad for streaming video).

As far as just having uverse internet, you do need a tv package to get access to WatchESPN - these things don't typically work with just an internet subscription. As someone else mentioned, most of the content providers are stuck in the past and hanging on desperately to their old subscription models.
 
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