Like many people all over the world right now, I’m sitting at home, thinking it would be kind of neat to be at the olympics. Unfortunately I’m not gifted with excess greenbacks, so I’m forced to watch at home and participate vicariously through others. Well…other people can watch, but not me.
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t own a TV. I don’t mind, though this seems to occasionally cause chaos in the world that I inhabit. The only reliable olympic stream to be found is at NBC.com. BUT first you have to register your ISP with them, which means registering an online account with your ISP if you haven’t done so in the past at some point. After jumping through these hoops, I’m confronted with yet another blockade, a mysterious error message. I will not give up, I shall persevere!
I head to my ISP’s site, and after waiting in a queue of about 4 people, I have a lovely chat with a rep from my ISP (emphasis mine):
Sandra (Tue Feb 16 2010 21:25:50 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>Thank you for contacting <redacted>Cable. At the end of our chat you will be given the option of taking a brief survey. My name is Sandra. Please give me a moment while I access your account.
Sandra (Tue Feb 16 2010 21:26:11 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>How may I assist you?
Buffalochick(Tue Feb 16 2010 21:26:45 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>i’m trying to access the nbc olympic stream, and am getting the following error message:
Buffalochick(Tue Feb 16 2010 21:26:46 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>Error Code: EI101 Error Message: Subscriber not authorized to resource (e.g. rate plan does not include the resource) Error Details: MVPD ID: 08670 UUID: C6D380AC-AF0D-F9F3-AA38-C68401EF772B Video ID: 406196 Time to Live: 10 Audit: Invoked: EI101 (EI101)
Sandra (Tue Feb 16 2010 21:27:40 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>I am sorry, you would need to have digital cable service to get olympic videos.
Buffalochick(Tue Feb 16 2010 21:28:43 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>so you’re saying i need to have both digital cable AND internet to be able to watch an internet video stream?
Sandra (Tue Feb 16 2010 21:29:04 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>Yes.
Buffalochick(Tue Feb 16 2010 21:29:25 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>why is that exactly?
Sandra (Tue Feb 16 2010 21:30:23 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))>I am sorry, we are technical chat support, we don’t have reasons for the policies and procedures.