By Thomas Gryta 

AT&T Inc. said Friday it resolved an hourslong outage with its DirecTV Now video-streaming service, the latest hiccup since its launch late last year.

Service appeared to have been restored around 1 p.m. EST.

"Earlier this morning, some DirecTV Now customers could not stream some of their live channels," an AT&T spokesman said. "We thank our customers for their patience."

The Dallas telecommunications giant declined to say when the disruptions began. Earlier Friday, the company's customer-service representatives told users via Twitter it was aware some customers were "unable to access the live steam and we are working to get this corrected as soon as possible."

AT&T launched DirecTV Now in December, hoping it attracts young people, cord-cutters and other consumers who don't sign up for its traditional pay-TV packages. AT&T, already the biggest U.S. pay-TV provider, pitches the streaming service as a customer-friendly option, as regulators consider its $85 billion proposal to buy Time Warner Inc., owner of HBO, CNN and other channels.

AT&T has said initial enrollment among its customers has been strong, though it hasn't specified the number of sign-ups. It offers DirecTV Now plans ranging from $35 a month for about 60 channels, to $70 a month for more than 120 channels.

But some subscribers have complained about system crashes, unresponsive features and other technical glitches. The company has acknowledged those issues, largely attributing them to bugs that are common in new products and services, and it has said it is working on fixes.

Dennis Hendrickson, a 42-year-old independent insurance agent in Sarasota, Fla., said he wasn't able to watch the Tennis Channel early Friday morning. He flipped to other channels to find they were out too.

"Nothing came up," he said, expressing frustration with ongoing problems with the service and his experiences with customer service. "This is really annoying."

AT&T on Friday declined to say what caused the outage, but customer-service representatives told subscribers the company was updating the DirecTV Now app, which was "causing some service issues."

William Emerson, a 39-year-old Asheville, N.C., resident who works out of his home, woke up at 5:30 a.m. EST and tried to watch MSNBC, only to find his DirecTV Now service wasn't working.

He has been frustrated with the service and its problems but described himself as a "beta tester" and longtime cord-cutter who was willing to have some patience.

"I'll use it for a while," he said. "I'll give them a chance."

Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2017 15:57 ET (20:57 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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