ESPN Plus is a one-stop on-demand content streaming service targeted towards sports enthusiasts. Enjoy watching thousands of live events, be it for international soccer to NBA, MBL, or NFL, golf, and a myriad of other sports played across the globe. ESPN Plus, as the name suggests, is a premium service charging $4.99/mo without any bundled service giving all the content you need in just a flick of a finger.

However, you need an activation code in order to authenticate/verify your purchase of the ESPN Plus subscription on any device. Turns out although the activation code process is a no-brainer, some of the users are facing difficulty due to the ESPN Plus activation code not working.

Truth be told, there are way too many reasons this could happen and thus, I have accounted here some of the troubleshooting strategies that you must look forward towards fixing this issue.

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How To Fix ESPN Plus Activation Code Not Working Issue?

Turn off the device

Why don’t you put the streaming device powered down for a few minutes? This should help it fix any temporary issues and accept the activation code provided.

VPN

Are you using a VPN on your mobile or computer used to feed in the activation code? According to a user, he wasn’t able to authenticate activation code on Apple TV because he turned on VPN. Since you are facing the same issue, turn off the VPN and check whether it makes any difference or not.

VPN is used to mask IP address and location. Since ESPN Plus is available in limited countries, it is likely that the use of VPN to change location or just to mask IP may have triggered the issue. If that’s the reason, turning it off should help.

Check if the subscription was successful

Okay, I know it sounds dumb because you got the activation code released only after a successful payment but there’s a probability. Use your phone or computer to go to www.espn.com, log in to the same ESPN account that you used for subscriptions and check if the ESPN+ (monthly) subscription is live or not. You should be able to pull off some clues from here.

Are you using the correct procedure?

Check if you have missed any instructions. Move to the next method if this doesn’t help you.

Remove channel/app

On any Smart TV or streaming device, you can use ESPN+ either as a channel or app, right? Since you are facing difficulty authenticating the activation code, why don’t you remove the channel/app and check if that makes any difference? Based on which streaming device you are using, the method will of course differ.

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Once you have removed the app/channel, make sure to restart the system and then attempt reinstalling ESPN+. Check back if you can use the activation code provided or not.

Talk to the Service Provider

Assuming that there are many ways to get ESPN+ and one of them is via service providers, they should provide you with the correct activation code. If you purchase a Verizon plan with ESPN+ included but fail to authenticate ESPN Plus, it’s time to talk to Verizon customer care. Keep certain screenshots such as the error message you get after feeding the activation code handy.

If the problem is from the service provider’s side, they should be able to come up with a resolution.

Talk to ESPN Support

This is a no-brainer. If the problem is specific to ESPN Plus which is a third-party app on your streaming device or TV, you will have to contact ESPN Support for help. The folks will be able to update you on the situation and take appropriate actions to resolve the ESPN Plus activation code not working issue. Visit here for ESPN Support.

Note that you need to use the same login credentials and keep the subscription details handy in case the support team member wants to authenticate the purchase.