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Anonymous User
Not applicable

YouTube failing to launch on NOW TV Stick.

Hello all,

 

I have had issues with my NOW TV Stick in recent weeks and months. I bought my stick from Argos a couple months back in the hope for live-streaming Sky Sports, BT Sport and YouTube etc. 

 

Unfortunately, I have been plagued with issues launching the YouTube app for a while now. Some days, it works fine, most days it does not. It comes up with the message "This channel did not launch please try again later."

 

Now, I understand if NOW are doing maintenance or if YouTube (Google I think owns them?) are doing maintenance on their TV app and that but this is getting quite bad as the fact it has been happening for the last week or so with the same message as quoted above.

 

I have performed a network connection reset, a system update check (concluded with no new updates, reckon I'm on the latest one), a system restart, a system factory reset. None of these options have been successful and YouTube has failed the launch after all options.

 

If anyone has any suggestions on what to do, please let me know soon. I'm alright with NOW TV as it's a way to watch sports and such but I am starting to get a bit worried that I may never have access to YouTube again on my TV stick owing to something that's failing to launch it.

 

Thank you

3 REPLIES 3
ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

Hi LT

 

First, let me say this, I am not a stick user because I don't like the form factor.  Second, NOW has dropped production of it's hardware, i.e. sticks, smart boxes, etc. and I presume will soon drop all technical support as well.

 

So, now you know where I'm coming from, I would suggest you get yourself an Amazon Fire TV stick, simply because a lot of knowlegable forum members recommend it as having technical and aesthetic abilities well above the current NOW stick and so should easily meet your requirements, unless your TV is faulty.

 

BTW, there are three versions of the Amazon stick, the Fire TV Sticklite, the slightly more expensive Fire Stick and the even more expensive Fire Stick 4K, all available with Alexa voice control.

 

Amazon Fire Sticklite.jpg

 

Amazon Fire Stick 4K.jpg

 

Hope this helps

 

 

UK Bob

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

Just to follow-up from the sound advice from @ukbobboy if you are in a position to purchase an Amazon Fire Stick if I were you, I would take that opportunity without thinking. 

 

Personally I have have both a NOW stick which I used for testing and an Amazon Fire stick. In my opinion I found the NOW stick to be OK, especially if it was seldomly used. 

Whereas if you are using a stick for everyday use then the Amazon Fire stick is far more reliable hands down. 

 

As you mentioned the NOW stick has its issues, for me it was overheating, where I ended up using the USB in the TV for the power. So that way the stick was only powered when the TV was on, it did make it more reliable. 

However the CPU in the Amazon fire stick is more faster than NOW stick, resulting in smoother running of apps and in many cases viewing pleasure. 

 

One thing to note, is the Amazon fire stick you have the option to purchase an Ethernet adpater, something that Roku has not supported.

 

If you use NOW and don't mind not having the Live TV pause/rewind feature then the Amazon fire stick is the best option for you. 

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

I doubt NOW will remove support in either the short or mid term with regards to their branded devices, because of the number of owners who have them, together with Roku device owners which runs on a similar OS.

 

NOW would lose a lot of NOW membership if customers haven't got any other supported devices to watch on their television.

 

Should Roku decide to unsupport any of their legacy devices, then NOW would follow suit on any legacy devices that have a similar spec (this happened with the Roku older devices and the first generation 1 white NOW box).

 

I am also guessing you removed the YouTube App on the NOW Stick and reinstalled the YouTube App again ?

 

I would be also tempted to try the Google Public DNS servers to see if that makes any difference (only if your Router supports Google DNS servers where not all Routers allows it).

 

Unfortunately you can't do Google DNS at the NOW Stick end (though a lot of other playback devices allows this).

 

Your problem might be isolated to a few cases, because if it effected all NOW Sticks i would have thought the Community Forum would be littered with posts.

 

If your NOW Stick is still under warranty then maybe take it back to Argos for a replacement or refund and put the money towards a Amazon Fire Stick if nothing fixes the YouTube App.