Watch ESPN not working

Hi:

We just bought a brand new Apple TV. Exciting. Most of the apps work great. However, we cannot get the "Watch ESPN" app working.

When I try to activate it I just see the spinning gear forever; nothing else happens. I have removed the app, and reinstalled it again. Specifically, I go to the App Store, find "Watch ESPN", then click on the white "Install" button. It then changes to "Open" after a short wait. I click on "Open". Then, I get a screen that is ~half black on top, with tiny words "powered by Xfinity" in white in the top right; and the bottom ~half is white, with the spinning gear in the middle. After ~5' the screen changes to a screensaver shot of the Golden Gate bridge, but if you wake it back up by clicking the Apple TV remote the half black, half white screen with the spinning gear shows up again.

Someone suggested trying Xfinity for help, but customer service at that company is legendary- the Chat line never opened, and when attempting to call a human after 15' of trying I still could not get past the inane robovoice. Very frustrating, especially since we are paying >$200/mo to Comcast, so that's why we are trying to get Apple TV up and working prior to Google fiber rollout. But given that it is essentially impossible to get any assistance from Xfinity, I'm hoping someone on these forums can suggest a way to get the "Watch ESPN" app working.

Thank you very much!