Bucs Game Feed: Fail
August 10th, 2019
Video streaming issues aplenty.
Joe will chalk it up to the first time at-bat. Opening night jitters.
For much of the first half of the live feed of the Bucs-Steelers preseason game on Buccaneers.com Friday night, the quality was fantastic. Crisp, clean and just a couple of quick, minor hiccups you barely noticed.
That was until Matt Gay stepped onto the field to attempt a Heinz Field NFL record 55-yard field goal. The ball was set. Gay stood ready, waiting for the snap, the camera angle was behind Gay’s back and… nothing. The feed froze.
From that point on, the streaming of the WFLA-TV Channel 8 produced broadcast was a complete mess. Constant freezing, lost signals if not pixelated screens.
After about the sixth time in the second half when the feed froze midway through the fourth quarter, Joe threw in the towel. No mas.
The reason Joe and so many others were forced to watch the video feed on Buccaneers.com was the continued contract hassle between WFLA-TV owner Nexstar and AT&T, owner of DirecTV. The local NBC affiliate is currently blacked out on DirecTV.
(How a free TV station using the public’s airwaves is blacked out by a carrier in a contract shakedown seems dubious as hell to Joe, but that is another argument for another day.)
Joe appreciates and applauds how the Bucs tried to offer a free workaround for local DirecTV customers to watch the game. The gesture was laudable and kind, but clearly bugs need to be worked out.
If this is the current state of cord-cutting, no thanks. Joe will be happy to continue being gouged by AT&T if last night’s debacle is what to expect in the next three weeks (or worse with the regular season a month away).
And no, unless some other carrier suddenly and unexpectedly acquires rights to broadcast NFL Sunday Ticket, Joe is not interested in jumping ship. If cord-cutting is the future, it’s clear through the streaming issues experienced last night with the Bucs’ game that the future is not yet here.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:04 pm
Buccaneers.com no issues, was very happy the whole way..coming from somebody with a fire stick which prevented me from finding it
August 10th, 2019 at 6:06 pm
Joe, here’s a solution:
Go to Walmart and pay $50 for a digital antenna and a long enough piece of cable to reach your tv from a window.
The antenna will get Channel 8 in HD. Great for emergencies…like this.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:08 pm
It will also get about 80 other channels that way. Some might surprise you.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:14 pm
Joe,
I saw this coming, last night before the game I had to inform the local establishment that they would not be showing the game, he turned to the guide on the remote went to channel 8 and wow-law no bueno!!
He said well we will just turn to the NFL network to watch the game. That’s when I informed him about local broadcasting rights. Man he was bummed when I left.
I went home turned on the TV in the spare bedroom that was hooked to a hard wire HD antenna and bam GAME ON!!!.
I unhooked the antenna installed it on the family room TV reclined, grabbed an adult beverage and enjoyed the game.
In HD as well.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:19 pm
Evan Smith released.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:27 pm
@PSL Bob and anyone else living on the treasure coast, I accidentally found out last night that the Bucs game was being broadcast on the Justice channel (25.3 on Antenna)!! For any Buc fans on the treasure coast, y’all know how rarely they broadcast Bucs games over here. I’m gonna keep checking back for other games. It’s probably just for preseason though.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:33 pm
Bonzai … I was surprised to see Evan Smith on the field last night; thought he was still recovering. Even more surprised, although not shocked, to hear that he’s been released given our severe lack of depth on the OLine. Where’d you hear that BTW; can’t find it on any of the other Bucs sites.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:34 pm
I would recommend a tv antenna for anyone in our area anyways!!!!!!!!! I just helped a relative over in Tampa to install one, Was about the size of a frisbee!!!!!!!!!! and did not go over the roof line!!!!!!!!
If the feed failed, would have suggested Hulu live!!!!!!!!!! While the sheep see immovable walls, The Buc Realist looks for viable solutions!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least those got to see the glorified scrimmage of the Bucs starters scrap and trade blows and look just better than equal against all of the Steelers backups In the first quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 10th, 2019 at 6:35 pm
Yeah, I cut the cable cord a couple of years ago. While free, broadcast T.V. is chock full of life insurance, reverse mortgages and prescription med commercials, so are many of the cable stations you have to pay for. I get abc, nbc, cbs and fox along with about 70 other stations. If I want to watch a particular game I don’t have access to, I head to my local watering hole with a great excuse to eat chicken wings, drink beer and check out the chickas.
August 10th, 2019 at 6:39 pm
^^^
Pro football focus
Greg Auman tweeted as well
Called it earlier today.- on the all gonzo team He looked bad
August 10th, 2019 at 6:40 pm
Sorry. Pro football rumors
August 10th, 2019 at 6:42 pm
Hey Joe, we’ve had similar experience out in SoCal when CBS and AT&T/DirecTV had a contract dispute as well, it lasted a little over 2 weeks.
When I tried to tune in to CBS with my dish, DirecTV put up a message that we could stream CBS ( as well as all of our local channels) by downloading the free app Locast at Locast.org. Sure enough, I could “change channels” to CBS by steaming the channel with the app thru my AppleTV. Fortunately though, CBS & DirecTV came to an agreement this past week and all’s back to normal.
Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s in your area, but Locast claims it’s available to about 40M people nationwide. Give it a try, and good luck!
August 10th, 2019 at 6:50 pm
Even better is on the slideline and watching the broadcast later. Miss a lot, but get it all later with a lot more perspective. I have never trusted the live feeds myself. They may have improved Direct TV but I got burned on that years ago…so give me a hard wire.
August 10th, 2019 at 7:00 pm
I only watched the 1st half. I have the NFlL Network from a London feed on the internet.
August 10th, 2019 at 7:03 pm
I’m glad to hear the broadcast was bad.
On the NFL Game Pass, even with plenty of bandwidth, the stream quality was horrid, and the stream failed several times.
So it wasn’t just us.
August 10th, 2019 at 7:19 pm
Im with frontier. No issues here. I just go to the bar when i want to see other games thats not on tv. No sir, direct tv will not hold me hostage just because they have the sunday ticket. He11, they havent even solved the problem of blacking out during rain. That really sucks when the games are on. No thanks!!!!
August 10th, 2019 at 7:22 pm
I don’t even watch free national broadcast channels anymore. I’m an independent thinker and don’t need to be programmed with their 24/7 propaganda and lies. I hated the fact football was even on NBC. Firestick
August 10th, 2019 at 7:26 pm
Cut the cord a year ago and bought an antenna to watch local channels
No issues for me
August 10th, 2019 at 7:38 pm
I watched it with no problems on channel 8 using Youtube TV.
August 10th, 2019 at 7:59 pm
Everything glazers do is second rate or minor league your choice one should expect plenty of buffering that way your pissed about feed and not the high school talent on the roster
August 10th, 2019 at 8:14 pm
Joe & JBF……..the FCC some years ago gave local broadcast stations the rights to their signal…..therefore carriers like Directv & cable must get permission (pay) or negotiate something in return…..so, it wasn’t Directv blacking out WFLA…..it was WFLA not permitting Directv to broadcast their signal.
Now….Directv has the right to black out Sunday Ticket if they wish…but that wasn’t the case with preseason.
This will likely be resolved soon as it is not good for either Directv or WFLA.
August 10th, 2019 at 9:46 pm
@Joe
(How a free TV station using the public’s airwaves is blacked out by a carrier in a contract shakedown seems dubious as hell to Joe, but that is another argument for another day.)
As Mr Spock might have said in response to the situation, “Fascinating!”
August 10th, 2019 at 9:55 pm
Dish in Tallahassee sucked too. They cut out NFL network. NBC did not carry the game. Thanks to the owner of the FOX station being a Bucs fan they carried it here.
August 10th, 2019 at 10:12 pm
Bonzai is right about the number of programs available with an antenna OTA due to all the subchannels. If it was not for sports and HBO, a lot of people would probably cut the cord with their local cable company. Its quite a bit different than the days where companies like Comcast and Cox Cablevision had a monopoly. Hopefully the Bucs iron out the probs on their digital feed.
Tampa TV Channels
Free TV Channels
Channel Station Description
3.1 PBS
3.2 VeMe
3.3 Florida Channel
3.4 PBS
8.1 NBC
8.2 METV
10.1 CBS
10.2 Antenna TV
10.3 Justice Network
13.1 FOX
13.2 Fox Movies
13.3 Buzzr TV
13.4 Heroes and Icons
16.1 PBS
16.2 PBS Kids
16.3 Create
16.4 PBS
17 Family Network
18.1 Daystar
20.1 Box
22.1 CTN
22.2 CTN
22.3 CTN
22.4 LifeStyle
28.1 Abc
28.2 Laff
28.3 GRIT
30.1 MY Family
30.2 Punch TV
30.3 IND
30.4 Info
32.1 IND
32.2 ThisTV
32.3 Estrella
35.2 BizTv
38.1 MyNet
38.2 COZI TV
39.1 SNN
39.2 Grit TV
40.1 ABC
44.1 CW
44.2 Decades
47.1 Youtoo
49.1 Telemundo
50.1 Unimas
50.2 Bounce
50.3 GeTV
50.4 Escape
60.1 Univision
60.2 Latn
66.1 ION
66.2 Qubo
66.3 ION Life
66.4 SHOP
August 10th, 2019 at 10:13 pm
Reddit NFL Streams
August 10th, 2019 at 10:17 pm
I agree Joe I use the app and it was pure crap They need to fix that ASAP
August 10th, 2019 at 10:34 pm
Antenna tv comes in better and crisper than directv.
I have one for when it storms and I’m always amazed by how good it comes in.
But these contract disputes happen all the time. I’ve had it on our locals Fox ABC and NBC so far. Dish network has them too.
August 10th, 2019 at 11:30 pm
DirecTV has exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. Preseason games are not part of the NFL Sunday Ticket package.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:02 am
What I am highly upset about is the fact that I can not watch a single preseason game in Canton Ohio unless I go to the bar ! I don’t have NFL Network and or local Tampa channels like I did before I moved away from home and I thought this would have fixed my problem..BUT NO. Low and behold I continue reading and it’s for only Alabama and parts of Florida with this live broadcast..man I keep getting kicked even when I’m down ! I have a lot of very bad things happening right now in my personal life , enough so to where I’m really contemplating if I even wanna stick around on God’s green earth and watching a bucs game is an escape for a few hrs I’d really enjoy but NOOOOOOO ! Good day everyone & go bucs !
August 11th, 2019 at 1:46 am
Any service that craps out in stormy weather is a non starter in Florida. Can’t wait til Amazon or some other modern company has Sunday Ticket
August 11th, 2019 at 6:40 am
this is bull-puckie man!
August 11th, 2019 at 6:40 am
reditt cures all your woes fellas!
August 11th, 2019 at 8:23 am
Hey Joes: Long time Bucs Radio fan reporting in. I have the radio broadcast schedule for this season and listened in. Great audio quality, BTW. Sometimes streaming audio is the pits. I hate the MSM boob tube ‘cept for highlights. Hopefully, we’ll have plenty of them this year. Go Bucs!!
August 11th, 2019 at 8:59 am
They also managed to screw up the very first post game press conference with Bruce Arians. There was no audio, had to find it on YouTube days later.
August 11th, 2019 at 9:40 am
The amount of commercials packed into Spectrum cable is nauseating. I’m cutting this BS off and going to the antenna setup mentioned here.
August 11th, 2019 at 10:27 am
Br luceletdadogsloose,
Hang in there. No matter your age, your past, your experiences…God cares. Get connected if you are not already.
August 11th, 2019 at 11:01 am
Have my Bucs Radio schedule in hand. Streaming sounded very Good Friday nite.
August 11th, 2019 at 12:24 pm
also watched on YouTubeTV.
pushed the little add all Buccaneers to record. Unlimited amount of recording, sweet.
ability to watch anywhere anytime. Bluetooth to Stereo and listen/watch on mobile, Check.
Cast from computer or phone to 4k, easy breezy.
Not having to go anywhere near gameday traffic: Priceless
Ability to immediately backup stream for replay/pause at anytime, extra bonus.
There are a lot of nerds that have figured out how to spoof locations to watch anywhere anytime, hardly any need anymore.
Last time i checked, Dish also had an on the go app, with nearly similar ability to watch anywhere your phone is.
August 11th, 2019 at 12:44 pm
I’m in the same boat but trust the future has long past and in fact simply points to the fact that anything and everything the Bucs touch goes to pure chit. It’s not you it’s the Bucs.