They have clearly made a decision. Just use another browser for that service and just get back to life. THE END You can mark this issue as resolved because there is nothing to fix.

So to be clear, this isn't due to Firefox not supporting a web standard, say for DRM or a particular codec?

Please just read the message from them. It clearly states that they are not supporting Firefox.

Wow it really sucks to hear this. Mozilla hasn't been in talks with DirecTV about this & usually websites who drop coverage for Firefox do it on their own without consulting Mozilla. But you're right, they really should speak to Mozilla about why they want to drop support for Firefox so they can come up with a solution.

Most of the time they do it because they don't have a big web development team anymore (layoffs/downsizing) to make sure their website & streaming services work across all web browsers. Other times they do have enough web developers but want to focus only on what they consider the most important browsers. Which upsets many people because it looks like a very lazy move on their part. I'm not sure what is so difficult about supporting Firefox that they decided to stop supporting it. I'm also pretty sure AT&T owns DirecTV & they have billions at their disposal. So it could be DirecTV is losing money due to not having enough subscribers & are making budget cuts.

Read about the news swirling around DirecTV & AT&T: https://cordcuttersnews.com/att-may-sell-directv-in-2024-here-is-everything-we-know/

Quoted from the article: Last October, a report revealed that AT&T was actively looking at selling all or part of its remaining 70% ownership in DIRECTV.

The deal would mark a complete break between DIRECTV and AT&T. The satellite TV provider struggled for years under AT&T management only to be spun back out in August 2021 in a deal that brought in TPG as a minority owner. Since that deal, there has been constant chatter and questions about DIRECTV’s fate.

As cord cutting is expected to accelerate in 2024, many understand why AT&T would move now to sell DIRECTV.

2023 has not been kind to cable TV companies like Comcast, DIRECTV, and Spectrum. In the first half of 2023, cable TV companies lost more than 2.7 million TV subscribers. (In the first quarter of 2023, cable TV companies lost 1.1 million subscribers; in the second, they lost 1.6 million.) In the first quarter of 2023, streaming live TV services lost 394,000 subscribers, and in the second quarter, they lost 115,000, according to The Leitchman Research Group, which includes estimates on DIRECTV and YouTube TV. DIRECTV has lost more than 750,000 subscribers in the first half of 2023.

So to be clear, this isn't due to Firefox not supporting a web standard, say for DRM or a particular codec?

I don't think so. I really would like to know myself. Another example of certain types of websites that randomly drop support for Firefox are some banks. Which is shocking since banks invest billions of dollars into maintenance & security of their websites. They never give a clear reason why when they do this. My guess is to simplify their testing for their developers so they only have to test in one single browser, Chrome. But they definitely still have to test for Safari so Mac desktop users won't be left out. So that's 2 browsers they have to test it in. And then all the major mobile browsers like Samsung Browser & Safari on iOS.

I get the sense they don't want to pay for the extra hours it takes to test on Firefox. Because Firefox supports all the same web technologies as Chrome with the exception of a few things.

I think its admirable that you want to know why they are doing this. The r/Firefox community knows more about this. As they seem to comment on trends like this & give insight into why its happening.

See here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=reddit+why+sites+remove+support+firefox https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/xapkza/whats_your_stance_on_not_supporting_firefox/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/us6w9o/why_have_some_websites_abandoned_firefox/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/j8hcmt/why_are_sites_excluding_firefox/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1dg710t/i_feel_like_google_doesnt_like_it_when_people_use/

Another Reddit thread but its exactly on why DirecTV is doing this: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1dokvc0/directv_no_longer_supports_firefox/ I think its mentioned here that using a UserAgent Switcher addon to pretend to be Chrome can get you around this stupid " Firefox no longer supported" message. And you can set it to only do it for a certain site so that it only affects DirecTV's site.

Sony Rewards website is doing this too: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1dpdj71/sony_rewards_blocks_all_transactions_via_firefox/

It could be a pressure campaign designed to force a lot of people off Firefox because it blocks alot of ads if you use a adblocker addon & it blocks a lot of tracking scripts by default. Someone suggested that's making certain websites angry because they really want that data. I never thought about it like that before but its a good point.

See also:

• 1904908 - directv.com blocks Firefox

• https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html