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ESPN App Not Working on Sony Smart TV: 11 Quick Fixes

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ESPN’s streaming service has too much binge-worthy content for you to get stuck dealing with a broken app. In this article, we’ll detail the easiest fixes for when ESPN Plus is not working on Sony smart TVs.

1. Make Sure Your Sony TV Is Compatible With ESPN Plus

The ESPN+ app only works with Sony smart TV models from 2015 or later, which run Android TV or the more recent Google TV You can get the year of your LG TV from the model number, which is found in your TV’s system menu or on a sticker on the back of your TV. The full process is explained here.

For Sony TVs from prior to 2015, your only real options are to replace the TV or add a streaming stick. Obviously, a streaming stick is a cheaper and easier option.

You can play ESPN Plus on any TV (smart or otherwise) by adding a Fire TV Stick or a Roku streaming stick. Both are easy to use and have all of the major streaming apps. Unless you already have a preference, I’d go with Fire TV largely for the Firestick Alexa voice controls.

12/14/2024 08:19 am GMT

2. Power Cycle Your Sony TV

Often, app problems are caused by random TV software glitches. As with most software problems, the best solution is to turn it off and back on again.

The easiest way to force restart Sony TV apps is to restart the entire TV. However, when you hit the power button on your remote, it doesn’t actually turn off the TV. Instead, it sends it into standby mode, which won’t force a restart of your active app.

There are two ways to force a restart of a Sony TV.

Restart your TV using the remote

This first method is the easiest, assuming you have your remote handy.

  1. Make sure your TV is on (not in standby mode).
  2. Hold your remote’s power button for at least 5 seconds until your TV restarts completely. Some models will raise a prompt asking if you want to restart, but most will restart on their own.
  3. Open the app you were trying to restart.

Since this restarted all of your apps and the TV itself, your app should be working normally again. If not, we’ve still got a few more tricks to try.

Restart your TV manually

The second way to reboot your TV is to power cycle it manually. This method doesn’t require a remote, so it should be possible for anyone. You can also use this process on non-Sony TVs, so it’s one of the only universally applicable solutions on this list.

  1. Unplug your TV’s power cord from the wall outlet or surge protector.
  2. Press (don’t hold) the power button on the TV panel.
  3. Wait two minutes.
  4. Plug your TV back in and turn it on.
  5. Select the app you were trying to restart.

Now try the ESPN Plus app again. You may want to keep these instructions handy; a good restart solves a lot of TV bugs.

3. Check Your Internet Speed

Slow internet can often cause buffering issues with ESPN+ and other video and streaming apps. In extreme cases, your internet may be too slow or unreliable to even connect to the ESPN Plus servers.

You can do an internet speed test on your computer or phone. Make sure the device you are using is on the same network as your TV. For your phone, that also means turning off mobile data and connecting only to Wi-Fi.

You’re going to need speeds of at least 3–4 Mbps for standard streaming and 5–8 Mbps for HD. If your speeds are slower than that, you’ll need to:

  • Check for sources of interference (e.g., too many walls between your router and your TV).
  • Restart your router (see the next section).
  • Contact your internet provider to see whether there are network problems or whether you need an upgrade.

4. Restart Your Router

Often, the problem is with your local Wi-Fi network rather than your TV or the ESPN Plus app.

Rather than try to debug every potential network problem, it’s easier to just restart your entire network to see if that sorts everything out. You’ll generally want to do this once a month or so anyway to keep your network functioning at its best.

Before proceeding, make sure that nobody in your home is actively using the internet. This process will shut down all network and internet connections for roughly five minutes during the reboot.

Okay, let’s get started.

  1. Unplug the power cable from your router and modem.
  2. Wait 30 seconds.
  3. Plug the power cables back in.
  4. Wait a few minutes for the modem and router to boot up.

Once your TV connects to the network again, try to run the ESPN+ app. If your network speeds were slow when you tested them, this is also a good time to run another test. Restarting your router will often boost your speeds for a short while, but it won’t fix every underlying problem.

5. Update Your Sony TV Firmware

Just like app updates, firmware updates will often fix your TV app problems for you.

Sony smart TVs update automatically, but they also have an option to manually force a firmware update. This shouldn’t be necessary, but it is nice to have in case the automatic updates fails without telling you.

  1. Press the Help button on your Sony TV’s remote control. If there’s no Help button, press Input and select Help.
  2. Select System Software Update. If you don’t see that option, first select Status & Diagnostics.
  3. Select Software Update or Check for a System Software Update.
  4. Wait for the update check to finish.
  5. If there’s an update available, Install it by following the on-screen instructions.

Once the firmware is updated, try the ESPN+ app again.

6. Clear Your ESPN Plus App Cache

Instead of reinstalling the app, Sony TVs let you clear an app’s cache. This is the equivalent of clearing the cookies in your internet browser, and often it will solve random glitches in the app.

Google TV

  1. Press the Home button on your Sony TV’s remote control.
  2. Select the Gmail icon.
  3. Go to Screen.
  4. Select Apps.
  5. Select See all Apps.
  6. Select the ESPN+ app.
  7. Click Clear Cache or Clear Data.
  8. Confirm if prompted.

Android TV

  1. Press the Home or Quick Settings button on your Sony TV’s remote control.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Select Apps.
  4. Select See all Apps (if it exists).
  5. Select Show System Apps (if it exists).
  6. Select the ESPN+ app.
  7. Click Clear Cache.
  8. Confirm when prompted.
  9. Click Clear Data.
  10. Confirm when prompted.

6. Reinstall the ESPN Plus App

Reinstalling the app will clear its data, fixing many app-specific issues. You could clear the cache manually, but this method is easier on Sony TVs.

To reinstall ESPN Plus, you’re going to need to delete the app and then reinstall it.

How to delete the ESPN Plus app

  1. Press the Home or Quick Settings button on your remote.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Select Apps.
  4. Select See All Apps (if it exists).
  5. Select ESPN Plus app.
  6. Press Uninstall and confirm if prompted.

How to reinstall the ESPN Plus app

  1. Press the Home button on your Sony TV remote.
  2. Navigate to the Apps tab.
  3. (Android TVs only) Press OK to open the Google Play Store.
  4. Go to the search bar (Google TVs) or select the search icon at the top of the screen (Android TVs).
  5. Enter ESPN+ in the search box.
  6. Select ESPN+ from the search results.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Now try the ESPN Plus app again. You’ll need to enter your log-in information, as it won’t carry over from the previous install.

8. Turn Off Your VPN

Those of you that don’t use a virtual private network (VPN) can ignore this step. If you don’t know what a VPN is, you’re probably not using one.

Most video apps and streaming services try to block VPN traffic. If you’re running a VPN that ESPN+ has managed to block, you likely won’t have access to your streaming content. The easiest way to test this is to turn off the VPN and try the connection again.

9. Try ESPN Plus on Another Device

We’ve covered nearly everything we can try on your TV itself. Before resorting to our most drastic option, let’s see how widespread the problem is. Try opening ESPN+ on your computer or any other device on your network.

If ESPN Plus works on your other devices but not your TV, it’s time to contact Sony support.

But if ESPN Plus isn’t working on any of your devices, the problem may be with your ESPN Plus account or with ESPN’s servers.

10. Check ESPN Plus Server Status

You can use Downdetector to check whether other users in your area are having problems with ESPN+. Most of the time, ESPN Plus outages are local and quickly fixed.

If you can’t find anything on Downdetector, it’s probably time to contact ESPN Plus support for more info. They’ll have more up-to-date information than I can provide in this article.

11. Factory Reset Your TV

Since we’ve tried all of the easy fixes, it’s time to try one last option: a factory reset. This will erase all of your TV settings, including those for your ESPN+ app. By erasing all of the settings and app data, though, it might fix your streaming app problems.

  1. Press the Home button on your remote.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Select Device Preferences.
  4. Select Reset.
  5. Select Factory Data Reset.
  6. Select Erase Everything.
  7. Enter your PIN if prompted. The PIN box should only appear if you set one on your TV.
  8. Confirm if prompted.

Now, try running the ESPN Plus app one more time. This should have fixed nearly any software or firmware issue that could have been preventing ESPN Plus from running on your Sony TV.

What’s Next?

Like All Android and Google TVs, Sony TVs have their quirks, but they are generally reliable. That’s great when ESPN+ or Apple TV stops working on Sony TVs.

These problems tend to be rarer than app problems on Samsung TVs since Sony doesn’t rely on a proprietary operating system.

12/14/2024 07:44 am GMT

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