Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) is pushing back the originally scheduled Wednesday launch of HBO on its Sling TV platform to address various technical issues.
Dish said OTT service will debut the premium cable channel by Saturday, April 11, still ahead of HBO's big upcoming event: the season-five premiere of Game of Thrones.
The delay, a Dish statement said, was so that Dish could execute "various enhancements" to Sling TV "to reduce overhead and load on our servers. This will allow us to provide a more seamless experience to all customers."
The announcement came after numerous Sling TV customers complained over Twitter last Saturday of poor streaming quality for Turner channels TNT, TBS and trueTV, all of which were showing the highly watched NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament semifinal game between Kentucky and Wisconsin.
Dish also says the delay will be used for Sling TV to install parental controls as well as a mini-guide.
Dish revealed last month that 100,000 customers had signed up for the service since I launched in early February. There has been no updated customer figure.
For more:
- see this Variety story
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