📄 Media library or channels do not work on the second device

Media library or channels do not work on the second device

If the media library and some channels have stopped opening on one of your devices, there can be several reasons — from an ordinary player glitch to a block caused by connecting from different networks. Work through them in order, starting with the simplest.

Where to start with any viewing complaint

  1. Restart the device and the router: unplug them, wait a minute and switch them back on. This is the most common and the quickest fix — it clears the majority of enquiries.
  2. If that does not help, close and reopen the player, and check that the internet works and other apps open.
  3. Only if the media library and some channels still do not work after that, move on to the causes below.

Never talk a customer out of restarting. Even when the cause is already clear, a restart does no harm and often solves the problem on its own.

What it looks like

  • The internet works and other apps open normally
  • The player menu loads but the media library does not
  • Some channels refuse to start or cut out
  • The first device is fine, the second is not

Why this happens

A multi-device package is meant for one home. All devices must reach the internet through the same router. If the second device is on a different provider, on mobile internet or behind a VPN, the system sees connections from different addresses and blocks playback for a while. The media library usually goes first, and channels start and stop.

Scope. The condition “two devices, one home, one router” is written into the terms of several packages, including Parus TV. Technically, however, only Sputnik breaks sessions and returns refusals — that is where the control is strict. On the other services the condition stays in the terms but there is no automatic block for different networks, so do not use it to explain every viewing complaint.

What to do

  1. Connect both devices to the same router — the one at your home.
  2. Turn off the VPN if it is enabled on either device.
  3. Wait a few minutes: unblocking is not instant.
  4. Restart the app; if that does not help, unplug the device from the mains and switch it on again.

We send this condition to every customer together with the playlists right after the subscription is set up — the email with your viewing details is in your inbox.

If the devices are at different addresses, for example yours and your parents’, write to us: we will set up a separate subscription for the second device and recalculate the current one, crediting the difference.

Second cause, Sputnik only: someone else is using your playlist

If you have only one device, at home behind your own router, and access is still blocked, your viewing details have most likely reached someone else. The connection log shows it immediately: connections come from different addresses and through different apps, and some of them are not yours.

A playlist can spread if you forwarded it to friends, had the player set up by an outside technician, or saved the link somewhere public.

There is one fix — replace the playlist. We issue new viewing details, the old ones stop working, and the outside connections drop off. After the replacement the player has to be set up again: remove the old playlist, add the new one. We will send the new details with instructions and help you set it up.

Write to us if you think someone else is using your access — we will check the connection log for your login and prepare the replacement.

Third cause, Sputnik only and only after checking the log: the internet provider itself changes the address

Sometimes there is no breach at all: one device, at home, nobody else uses the playlist — yet playback keeps breaking. The cause is the provider. Some operators route traffic through a pool of addresses and switch connections between neighbouring IPs during playback. The service binds the session to the address you started from and rejects anything arriving from the second one with the reason Sticky lock denied.

How it looks in the connection log: the addresses differ only in the last number, belong to the same provider, the device signature is identical in both the accepted and the rejected lines, and success and refusal happen in the same second for the same channel or film.

Only in this confirmed case — when the connection log shows exactly this pattern — does it make sense to say that further restarts, reinstalling the player and replacing the playlist will not help, so as not to send the customer round in circles. In every other case a restart remains the first and useful step.

There are two solutions. First: the customer asks their internet provider for a static IP address. This is the only path that keeps them on the same service with all channels and the media library; home tariffs often do not offer it, it is usually a paid option on business lines — say so honestly. Second: move to Globus TV, which is not bound to a single address. Always warn that Globus has no media library, channels only. The remaining paid term is recalculated and credited towards the new subscription, with nothing extra to pay. Globus is offered in correspondence only.

The content provider has no pool-based filtering — never promise that the service will configure this.

Special case: mobile internet through a SIM router

Before explaining address pools, ask directly: is the internet a fixed line or a router with a SIM card. On mobile internet the address changes at every reconnection, when switching cell towers, and sometimes on its own, and customers sit behind the operator's shared NAT. The typical complaint: everything is fine while the TV stays on; switch it off and on and nothing starts; a few minutes later it works again.

Be honest: while the internet is mobile, these interruptions cannot be removed completely, neither on our service nor on any other. Operators do not issue static addresses on ordinary mobile tariffs — unlike a fixed line, where one is at least theoretically possible.

Stopgap: leave the TV in standby instead of switching it off completely; do not reboot the router unnecessarily; if playback stops starting, wait a few minutes. Real fix: move to a fixed connection, fibre or cable. If the customer is moving house, advise against a SIM router at the new address.

Important about provider lookup. Address databases show the owner of the autonomous system, which is often the parent company rather than the actual operator. Example: mobile EE addresses appear as British Telecommunications PLC because EE is part of BT Group. Establish the connection type by asking the customer, not from the database. City data is imprecise too — different cities in adjacent log lines do not mean the customer travelled.