Rogers’ Sportsnet+ streaming service went down briefly for many viewers on Tuesday night during Game 4 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers—right as Toronto’s offence came alive.
Instead of the game, fans were greeted with the message: “We have detected an issue with your network. Please check your connection and try again. (Code 22).” But according to hundreds of comments online, users said their internet connections were working perfectly fine.
On Reddit, viewers across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario reported the outage during the middle innings, missing key Blue Jays runs. One user wrote, “Sportsnet+ goes down for me, mid World Series. Blamed my network. (It’s not).” Another added, “Same here. Tried both Wi-Fi and cellular. Trash tier streamer.”
Others noted that the outage also affected hockey broadcasts, including the Canucks game, suggesting a wider issue with the Sportsnet+ platform. Some said the stream briefly came back before cutting out again.
Frustrated fans didn’t hold back and were downright angry. One user from Alberta said, “Rogers — the company built on networking and telecommunications — and this is their excuse?” Another added, “Raising prices 30% for an app that crashes every game is downright awful.”
Several commenters shared workarounds, linking to an official Sportsnet web stream that appeared to function when the app failed. Others joked about turning to pirate feeds or dusting off antennas to watch Citytv’s over-the-air broadcast instead.
For cord-cutters, Sportsnet+ offers live sports streaming from Rogers on the web and through its app, starting at $29.99 per month. Some fans unaware of MLB broadcasting rights have mistakenly assumed their TSN+ (Bell) subscriptions include Blue Jays games—but the team and broadcast rights belong to Rogers.
The timing frustrated many fans given that Rogers owns both Sportsnet and the Blue Jays, leaving paying subscribers unable to legally stream their team’s biggest game of the year. Many fans are hoping Sportsnet+ will stay online during tonight’s pivotal Game 5 of the World Series, the final game taking place in Dodgers Stadium, before the series shifts back to Toronto.
Game 1 of the World Series saw an average of 7 million viewers on Sportsnet, which was the most-watched Blue Jays game ever according to the company. Game 2 averaged 6.6 million and was the second most-watched, both breaking the previous record of Game 7 from the ALCS.
Click here to learn how to watch the Blue Jays vs. Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series.
