For nearly 20 minutes of basketball, there was nothing. So what, exactly, was behind the technical issues that left ESPN looking green and fuzzy during Monday night’s KU-K-State game?
On Tuesday, Time Warner Cable officials clarified the problem, saying a faulty receiver was to blame for knocking out the first half of basketball at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.“[Monday] night, Time Warner Cable’s receiver failed to respond to a change in satellite frequencies initiated by ESPN,” said Dave Borchardt, Time Warner media-relations manager in Kansas City. “Our engineers worked diligently to resolve the issue, and we were able to restore service for the second half of the game.” The technical issues set off an instant firestorm of complaints on Twitter and other social media, and late on Monday night, as KU finished off a 59-53 victory in Manhattan, Time Warner officials were still trying to identify the root cause of the problem. On Tuesday, Borchardt and Matt Derrick, Time Warner’s director of communications, said the issue stemmed from a glitch in the receiver. Satellite frequencies, or specific feeds, are often changed before live sporting events, Derrick said, and the process happens automatically. Derrick said Time Warner will continue to proactively test its equipment to prevent future outages. For now, there are no plans to replay the game locally. And Time Warner, Derrick said, has no plans for any uniform compensation for customers that weren’t able to watch Monday’s game, saying that those type of things are generally done on a “case-by-base basis.” Derrick said calls and complaints spiked on Monday during the game, but the number of complaints or threats to cancel had tailed off by Tuesday afternoon. Borchardt added that Time Warner Cable customers that own computers, tablets or smartphones were still able to watch via the “WatchESPN” app and WatchESPN.com. As of Tuesday evening, a full replay of the entire game was also still available at WatchESPN.com.Read more Kansas State University
Posted on Tue, Feb. 14, 2012 11:40 PM
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Time Warner blames receiver for glitch in KU-K-State telecast
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