A CBS broadcast of the N.F.L. playoff game between the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs was briefly cut off for viewers in New York and some other areas on the East Coast on Sunday, prompting complaints and confusion among viewers and a scramble to find other ways to watch the game.
The outage began about 20 minutes before the scheduled kickoff at 3:05 p.m. Eastern time, during the network’s pregame show as a segment with the analyst Bill Cowher interviewing Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski was nearing an end. Some viewers saw blank screens while others were not able to tune to the channel or saw error messages indicating CBS was unavailable.
The outage lasted about 30 minutes, returning just after Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes ran in the game’s first touchdown and Harrison Butker missed an extra point attempt (that’s why the score was 6-0, in case you missed it).
Almost immediately after noticing the failure, viewers began voicing their confusion and outrage on social media. The failure seemed to primarily affect the New York metropolitan area and some other parts of the Northeast, and the telecast appeared to still work on streaming platforms and some channels showing the game in Spanish.
WCBS-TV, the New York CBS affiliate that is owned by the network itself, acknowledged the problems in a statement.
“There are technical difficulties at WCBS affecting some parts of the NY area,” the station said. “We are aware and working on a solution.”
The N.F.L. declined additional comment and referred questions to CBS.
Kevin Draper contributed reporting.
