TNT Sports hit some significant technical difficulties with an NHL playoff game on TBS Sunday night. With 16 minutes left in the second period of Game 4 of the Washington Capitals-Montreal Canadiens series in Montreal, the TBS feed went to black:
TBS then went to a couple of minutes of commercials. When they came back, studio host Liam McHugh explained they were having technical difficulties. They again showed a highlight of the Capitals’ first goal (which came a few minutes before the feed cut out), then announced they were switching to the Sportsnet feed:
As noted there, the TBS feed would return after around 30 minutes of real-time and after about 10 minutes of game time. Luckily, there was a backup feed from another broadcaster they could switch to, a luxury Golf Channel and CBS didn’t have at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic Sunday (where a facility power outage meant the broadcasters had to pivot to showing last year’s tournament).
However, this does contribute to a playoff run that has faced some criticism from TNT Sports, particularly over their decision to have announcers call many of the first-round games involving Canadian teams remotely.
Strangely enough, the Washington-Montreal series featured on-site announcers (Alex Faust and Jennifer Botterill) in a Canadian building, yet technical issues still prevented them from working out for part of Sunday night. But at least they were able to regain their feed eventually.