If you own a LeEco TV running on Android TV, and make use of DIRECTV NOW, then there is a good chance you will have (or are about to receive) an email. The email currently being sent out looks to confirm that the DIRECTV NOW app will soon stop working on compatible LeEco TV sets.
Unfortunately, the email (which you can see below) does not provide any real information as to why this is happening and simply states “in the next 30 days the DIRECTV NOW app will no longer be available on LeEco TVs.” As this is an automatically installed app on LeEco TVs, it stands to reason all LeEco TV sets will see the change, irrespective of whether the DIRECTV NOW service is used. It is currently unclear as to how the app will stop working, although one firm possibility it the app will be removed via a system update from LeEco. In either case, the end result will be the same and LeEco TV owners will no longer be able to access DIRECTV NOW through the dedicated Android TV app.
In spite of this being an Android TV app, LeEco devices are one of the select few that can actually access this app in the first place. As DIRECTV NOW has yet to make an Android TV version of the app publicly available – although it is widely available on Android in general. Which does mean that one of the only Android TV routes to DIRECTV NOW is now coming to an end. While there is no firm confirmation on the reasoning behind this, there are two possibilities that could be in play here. The first is that LeEco has reportedly been undergoing massive problems since its entrance to the US market. So this could be a result of those highly reported issues. Alternatively, the Android TV version of the DIRECTV NOW app is one which users have reported as having various issues. So this could just as easily be an ‘Android TV issue’ as a ‘LeEco issue’ for DIRECTV NOW. For those owners who will be affected by this, the same email does come with a link which takes you through to a page where you can fill out a form “to receive a streaming device so you can continue to watch DIRECTV NOW on your LeEco TV.” While there is no mention of what streaming device this will be, there is a very good chance it will be a Roku device.