Hockey blackouts suck. So I loaded NordVPN onto my Firestick. A lot of times the ESPN+ app is problematic. I have the VPN always set for outside my market but still in the US. I also have my Firestick set up to pretend it’s in a different location that’s outside of market.
I go into the settings>apps>ESPN+ and then force close, clear cache, and lately I’ve even had to clear data. When I go back to ESPN+, I can usually play the game but then for some reason it’ll stop and say “unable to play video” at random. I can then click “back” and deselect it to get back on. It did it 3 times during today’s game.
I believe the Firestick is an android OS, and I have no idea how those work compared to all my other devices. Does NordVPN randomly time out or give away my location details?
I have nord + firestick for the exact same reason (go Jackets) and I think the ESPN app runs slower when other apps are also running. I’ve noticed when I watch CBJ games it times out more than if I have a random game on.
But it does happen randomly too for any game. Personally I always try to load up the vpn and ESPN app at least 10 minutes before the game in case it doesn’t work, in which case I do what you do and force close everything and try again.
Also, make sure the vpn isn’t set to the opponents home tv viewing market either. I think you’ll get used to it though. I’m on season 3 of watching this way and it’s usually good!
I forgot to mention—I always set it to a different market than either team. It’s weird that it keeps cutting out in the 3rd period. Today I had it set for Chicago for the Avalanche Stars game and it was still doing it. Once in the second and 3 times in the 3rd. So strange.