Streaming services occasionally experience outages, but a complete platform failure is rare. This occurred with Samsung Smart TVs worldwide during the summer holidays.
On August 1, apps including YouTube, Disney+, HBO Max and nearly all others became inaccessible for Samsung Smart TV owners.
Users faced various error messages tied to servers, internet connectivity and security certificates when trying to access apps, as reported by Android Authority and The Verge. Although these error codes typically suggest user-side problems, the issue stemmed from Samsung's servers.
Over 800 posts in a Reddit thread document the problem, while 85,000 users searched for the error on Samsung's Community forum.
How could it happen?
The precise cause of the outage remains unclear, but it reveals streaming apps' dependency on Samsung's Tizen platform and the company's servers. The issue impacted Samsung Smart TVs globally.
This dependency means that if Samsung were to shut down its servers in the future, streaming apps could cease functioning. Notably, only the Netflix app remained operational during the outage, most likely because Netflix demands to operate independently over its own CDN.
Samsung's Tizen operating system for Smart TVs. Photo: Samsung
This is one of the risks of a "thin client" system, where the user interface is loaded via a server, as opposed to an operating system that runs locally on the device, such as tvOS on Apple TV.
In 2020, owners of Samsung Blu-ray players experienced a faulty internet configuration that bricked their devices, requiring physical repairs.
Smart TVs working again
Samsung resolved the issue later that day, allowing users to resume streaming movies and TV series from various apps.
- "Our TV service was affected for a small period of time overnight but this has now been restored and customers should be able to resume normal use by powering off and restarting their TV with the remote control," Samsung said in a statement to Android Authority.
One user described how resetting the Samsung TV resulted in no apps being downloadable, as the Smart TV could not retrieve the terms of service. Even when apps came back online, the TV setup still did not work, the user added.
- Source: The Verge, Android Authority
