Posted on 02/03/2014 10:12:51 AM PST by Dave346
Just three days after announcing that it would rebrand its cable systems in New York and Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) grappled with an outage on its Los Angeles system on Sunday that left subscribers unable to watch the standard-definition feed during much of Fox's coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII.
TWC blamed the outage on a "technical issue" which knocked out the standard-definition feed from 4:49 p.m. to 6:02 p.m. PT. That saw many subscribers miss the half time show starring Bruno Mars and parts of the second and third quarters of the Broncos-Seahawks game. The MSO didn't experience problems with Fox's high-definition feed, and subscribers also had access to the Spanish-language telecast on Fox Deportes.
The timing was unfortunate for TWC, which announced on Thursday that it would deploy new super DVRs and wideband Internet tiers in Los Angeles and New York, and that it also plans to reveal a new brand for its cable services later this year in the two biggest cities within its footprint. TWC has also been criticized in recent weeks by executives at suitor Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), who have argued that TWC needs to upgrade its cable systems and improve its customer service and field operations.
In 2011, TWC's system in Hawaii suffered a 20-minute outage during game six of Major League Baseball's World Series. Other pay TV distributors have experienced similar high-profile outages, including Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), which saw an outage on its Chicago system last June during a NHL Stanley Cup finals game featuring the Chicago Blackhawks.
They were the lucky ones...........
Didn’t miss much.
Still waiting for the Broncos to come on the field.
No Harm really the subscribers didn't miss anything. The Broncos sucked just as bad in Hi Def.
Affected the English language broadcast but not the Spanish broadcast; now that is interesting.
They sucked worse in HD................
Since more than 50% of the populace considers cable tv to be a basic human right, how long do you figure it will be before AG Holder brings federal charges against Time Warner?
That’s good to know. I thought maybe they would have had a chance in standard definition...
Count your blessings people.
There...I feel better.
Time Warner had a Super Bowl outage at my house too, I turned it off before halftime...why not? Manning didn’t show up for the game and neither did the rest of the Bronco players..,and halftime? Not me...back to Hawaii 5-O reruns...more entertaining.
Denver fans probably pulled the plug out of the wall.
Since more than 50% of the populace considers cable tv to be a basic human right, how long do you figure it will be before AG Holder brings federal charges against Time Warner?I don't know about a "right", but I definitely consider internet access in my house as a utility, like electric and NG.
Given that most people who watch the Super Bowl nowadays watch in HD anyway (thanks to cheap flat-screen HDTV’s), no loss here for most users. I watched the game on HD on Comcast (Sacramento) as the Broncos literally got blasted by the Seahawks’ defense.
Time-Warner Cable has outages almost daily here, stations randomly say not available at this time or just say “Please wait”.
I had DTV 15 years and had less total outages in that time than I had with TWC in just the past 6 months I’ve been backed into using them due to rules at my new place.
Ah. I heard there was an outage but it didn’t hit me as I had the HD feed. Was wondering why I didn’t notice.
They should be thankful. The game was over by the end of the first quarter, the halftime show was a total bust and those expensive commercials were beyond boring.
Whoa, I still don’t even know the final score.
We switched to”CREATE” And watched German WW1 Airship development and later Dowto Abbey.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.