Red Sox Features On wbztv.com
Mar 25, 2008 1:56 pm US/Eastern
Several DirecTV Customers Miss Red Sox Opener
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Several Red Sox fans with DirecTV claim they couldn't watch the season opener from Japan Tuesday because there was no satellite signal on the channels that carried NESN and ESPN2.
"That's a historic signal gaffe," Andre, a viewer wrote in an e-mail to WBZ. "Heads should roll at DirecTV."
"We experienced some temporary technical difficulties that resulted in some channels not being available," DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer told WBZ.
Mercer refused to explain what the "technical difficulties" were, because "it's not something they discuss."
A service representative reportedly told the Boston Globe a transponder went out.
The outage affected service nationwide.
As of December 2007, DirecTV had 16.8 million subscribers with average monthly revenue per subscriber of $79.05.
Mercer could not break down how many customers they have in New England or Massachusetts. When asked for a ballpark figure he declined.
"We don't break it down for competitive reasons," he told WBZ.
"We deeply apologize for the inconvenience we caused to our customers with this outage, particularly Red Sox fans," Mercer said.
It wasn't enough for several angry customers.
"I waited 5 months for this day," Joe, a viewer from Everett wrote in an e-mail to WBZ. "This is the first opening day I missed seeing in 34 years."
Mercer says NESN service on DirecTV was restored in the 7th inning. ESPN2 came back after the game.
The problem did not affect customers with HDTV.
Comcast also reported some issues from several customers in southeastern Massachusetts after a problem at their office in Rehoboth.
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Red Sox Opening Day Roster
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