Mayweather-Paul Fight Viewers Report Showtime Streaming Outages
Fight fans eager to see YouTuber Logan Paul in the ring with five-time champ Floyd Mayweather for an exhibition match Sunday night were shown to their corners and had to sit it out when Showtime experienced widespread outages.
“We are aware that some customers have been having trouble accessing tonight’s Pay Per View event on SHOWTIME. We are working diligently to resolve the issue and will redress customers appropriately,” a Showtime spokesperson told TheWrap.
Fans began reporting outages with Showtime and its Showtime Anytime streaming app shortly after the fight kicked off — there are three bouts ahead of the title fight, including a fight between NFL player Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and MMA fighter Brian Maxwell.
Some people trying to log into the site to buy the $50 pay-per-view access to the Mayweather-Paul match reported on Twitter that they paid but couldn’t actually stream the event. The error message people encountered was a notification that the Showtime Anytime app for smart TVs and mobile devices was offline.
The worst part is, Showtime pay-per-view doesn’t allow viewers to restart or rewind coverage, so in the case of a glitch, it’s unlikely fans could catch up on any lost action.
Showtime acknowledged the issue on its customer support Twitter page Sunday night.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: We are aware of an issue impacting tonight's PPV event as well as the SHOWTIME and SHOWTIME Anytime apps. Updates will be posted here, so please refresh your browser to view the latest update.
— SHOWTIME SUPPORT (@sho_help) June 7, 2021
The network will likely continue trying to fix the issue throughout tonight and offer refunds for the event if people who were unable to watch seek them out. Earlier in the evening Showtime asked people to continue refreshing their app or browser.
If you are having issues watching the fight on https://t.co/1LFxzm7RK5
or on the SHOWTIME app, please try again in 10 minutes. We are working to resolve the issue. JB
— SHOWTIME SUPPORT (@sho_help) June 7, 2021
It’s unclear how many people were affected by the Showtime outages, but reports of technical difficulties on the website and app outage tracker DownDetector peaked around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
There were other ways to watch tonight’s fight, though. Showtime partnered with Apple to stream the fight and sports streaming app Fanmio also offered a live feed — although it seemed Fanmio had its own technical difficulties live streaming the fight tonight, too.
Check out some of the customer reactions to the issue and tonight’s fight below.
As has been pointed out to me the #MayweatherPaul PPV can also be bought on @fanmio is you’re having Sbowtime app issues.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) June 7, 2021
Showtime will have to give refunds
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) June 7, 2021
How many times you gonna tweet this instead of fixing the problem? I paid and can’t watch! pic.twitter.com/HLu1SBf6ek
— Danny Ivers (@divers) June 7, 2021
Total disaster. If you ordered on Apple you can request a refund right now here:https://t.co/IkBZqq1HBQ
— Jason Mahoney (@MahoneySucks) June 7, 2021
I would just hold the fight until it's fixed. Going to be a lot of angry people if they miss it and paid. https://t.co/UsilQup6Cd
— Jodi Kodesh (@JodiKodesh) June 7, 2021
1 HOUR AND 15 MIN AS WELL AS TWO MATCHES INTO THE SHOW AND ITS STILL NOT WORKING NO ONE USING SHOWTIME SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND REFUND
— Kevin Michael (@KevinH7651) June 7, 2021
I am so pissed I paid for a blank screen.
— spencer (@pandas_memory) June 7, 2021