Channels & viewing

[Dsw100]

We have a 2 homes one with a spectrum account and one with a direct tv account. The direct tv account allows us to add apps to see several of the channels that we pay for with direct tv  in our spectrum tv home. All of a sudden, we cannot get into the apps by listing our direct tv info. It says we do not have the channels with the provider… but we do and I have verified this. Why can we not sign  into the apps using our direct tv info? We have been doing this for years and now we cannot. Something has changed- any help is appreciated. 

[DBDukes]

@Dsw100 

Short answer:

We need more information about the channels involved.

Long answer: 

Specifics may help lead to a solution. Based on the very general info you provided I can think of one way this could happen, but it may not apply to you. Let's start with some background information.

First, Roku has a feature called Single Sign On (SSO). If you log in to an app on one Roku device, and if the app supports SSO, it will automatically log in on the other Roku devices with those same credentials.

Second, some channels and apps are from the same family. For example, A&E Networks owns a lot of channels, and their apps all work together as a group. If you logged in to A&E on one Roku device, it will try to log in on your other Roku devices. AND, any related app/channel will try to log in as well. History, for instance, will attempt to log in with the same A&E credentials, since they're part of the same family of apps/channels.

And third, more and more channels are implementing SSO to various degrees.

Put all of these together, and the following scenario could occur. Your two services could contain some overlap of channels. If these overlapping channels has related channels that did not overlap, you would be logged in to one service for some of the apps, and another service for the other apps. If an update to the apps changed the SSO features, it could change the login to one that doesn't include the package.

Making up an example, DirecTV and Spectrum both carry ParentChannel. DirecTV also carries ChildChannel, which is related, but your Spectrum service doesn't have ChildChannel. So, you log in with the respective providers. If on one, you logged in with Spectrum for ParentChannel but DirecTV for ChildChannel, and an app updated affected SSO, then it could try to log in ChildChannel with Spectrum, because they're in the same family of apps. But Spectrum doesn't carry ChildChannel, so you get a message that it's not in you package.

Is this what's happening to you? I have no idea. We don't have enough information. But, you see that such things are possible, and the devil is in the details. So, if you can give us some more details, we may be able to unravel the mystery.