USTVGO has not provided an official reason for why the website has been shut down, but it is most likely due to DMCA notices that were issued.
USTVGO is a streaming alternative to traditional cable television and offers users access to the platform’s wide range of content.
However, the USTVGO website has been shut down and although it cannot be confirmed, this is most likely due to legal pressure from various broadcasters and why USTVGO has cut off all communication with its users.
What is USTVGO?
Over the last couple of years, streaming platforms have gradually been gaining popularity in the United States and around the world and hence, an increasing amount of households have cut the cord with their traditional cable television subscriptions.
In fact, for the first time ever in July 2022, more people watched streaming content than any traditional broadcast content in the United States.
This amounted to over 190 billion minutes of streaming content a week. USTVGO provides yet another alternative for households who want to watch a wide variety of streaming content right from their browser.
Why did USTVGO shut down?
USTVGO quickly became one of the most popular live-streaming platforms for users in the United States because of how user-friendly the platform is to use.
Since USTVGO somewhat exists in a sort of grey area when it comes to Copyright infringement, the platform can offer its users a particularly vast catalogue of content from various networks and channels completely for free.
As a result, users are also not required to create an account to access this content. They also do not have to worry about downloading an application to stream the content.
To watch USTVGO, you only need to access the USTVGO website through your browser. Or at least this is how it used to work.
Unfortunately, many avid USTVGO users simply received a “sorry, we are closed” when they tried to access the platform recently.
Although initially it seemed as though the USTVGO website would only be down temporarily, the company has also cut off communication on many other platforms following the website. Thus, at this point it seems like the website has been shut down for good.
USTVGO has not released any official statement about why the website has been shut down and this has led to a lot of speculation as to what might have happened.
Some of the rumours as to the reason why USTVGO was shut down include increased legal pressure from DMCA notices sent by ESPN, Major League Baseball, and NBCUniversal, or even the issuing of cease-and-desist notices.
Why is USTVGO likely shut down permanent?
If only the USTVGO website was shut down, this would likely be because of a temporary server or connection issue. However, even mirror sites like ustv247.tv and watchnewslive.tv experienced the same error message.
Some people have even tried to reach out to USTVGO via their email address, but the site’s mail servers seem to be down as well.
All of this combined with the fact that USTVGO has also deactivated their Twitter account and Discord server, indicates that the platform has likely been shut down permanently.
Why are users so disappointed that USTVGO has been shut down?
Aside from the fact that USTVGO allows users to stream content without having to enter any kind of agreement or having the financial burden of a monthly subscription fee, USTVGO managed to become very popular because of its wide variety of shows and excellent platform design.
USTVGO offered its users over 100 live television channels with sports, lifestyle, kids, news, and local channels included in the mix.
It has also been widely praised for its easy-to-navigate platform. However, now that the website has been shut down, users will no longer have access to any of these elements.
What are the alternatives to USTVGO?
Although it is still undetermined whether the USTVGO platform will ever be up and running again or even whether it will re-emerge under a different name, there are plenty of alternatives that you can use to stream your favourite shows.
The most popular direct alternatives to USTVGO are 123TV Now and UStream.
However, these sites reside in the same not-quite-legal grey area that USTVGO resided in, which means that these sites probably also run the risk of being shut down permanently.
For this reason, it often best to switch to a completely legal alternative like SLING TV, Yupp TV, Pluto TV, or the free plan version of the growing Peacock streaming service.
Most of these services are free, or offer subscribers a free package that is ad-supported, or they have a reduced library of content in addition to the pricier plans and add-ons.