With the Indiana Pacers playing, there’s naturally a lot of excitement about the NBA Finals in The Hoosier State. But WPTA, the ABC affiliate in Indiana’s second most populated city, Fort Wayne, missed a critical portion of the game.
The reason? There was a teaser for the upcoming 11 o’clock news.
With just over a minute left in the fourth quarter and the Pacers trailing 110-107, Pascal Siakam blocked a layup from Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. As Indiana dribbled the ball up the court following the blocked shot, WPTA’s coverage of the game cut away, teasing the upcoming news.
Ironically, one of the segments teased for the upcoming news was about a Game 1 watch party.
This is the second time we’ve seen something like this in as many days.
A brutally timed emergency test forced hockey fans in parts of Minnesota to miss the overtime winner in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. In one respect, the hockey mishap is worse. Because, as bad as WPTA’s mistake was, viewers were returned to the NBA Finals in time to see Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winner.
On the other hand, while Minnesota is the State of Hockey, it’s not the home state (or province) of either the Florida Panthers or Edmonton Oilers. Fort Wayne, though, is in Indiana and is roughly a two-hour drive away from the Pacers’ hometown of Indianapolis.
Oops.
About Michael Dixon
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