Commentary

DIRECTV Now and Roku promised they would deliver an app for the live streaming service by the end of the first quarter.

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Well, today is the last day of the first quarter and there is no app. There is also no explanation for the missed deadline from the two companies.

The closest we have to a response is another promise from @DIRECTVNowHelp, the streamer’s Twitter customer service team, that the app will be offered in “the coming weeks.”



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@DIRECTVNowHelp adds that the companies are trying to ensure a “smooth launch.”

As for Roku, the maker of streaming devices has quietly changed its November 28, 2016 blog post that said the app would be introduced in the “first quarter of 2017” to that it will be introduced sometime in 2017.



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Roku did not comment on why it made the change at the blog, but it did note the post was “updated” on March 23 without saying exactly what the update was. It’s as if the first quarter forecast never existed.

The sleight-of-hand on the Roku blog reminds this reporter of the ruling force in George Orwell’s Animal Farm which simply erased from the wall any law it no longer supported without providing any explanation or acknowledgement of a change.

It seems to me that DIRECTV Now and Roku should do better here and provide a clear explanation of what’s going on. Many DIRECTV Now subscribers signed up with the belief that the Roku app would be available by now.

Why? Because that’s what they were told.

Since the promise was not kept, the companies have a responsibility to explain why and perhaps even offer an official apology.

I know, fat chance, right?

— Phillip Swann

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