There have been plenty of feed outages and associated technical difficulties for broadcasters over the years, but the timing couldn’t have been worse for Canada's Sportsnet on Sunday.
The Rogers-owned broadcaster was showing the Davis Cup final between Canada and Australia from Málaga, Spain, which Canada eventually won. That marked the first time the Canadian team had ever won this since-1900 tournament, the top international team tournament in men’s tennis. And Canada became just the 16th country to claim a Davis Cup title.
This led to quite the celebration following Felix Auger-Aliassime’s final shot. However, Sportsnet’s feed from the tournament site crashed shortly before that happened, forcing the broadcaster to go back to their studio coverage.
"What awful timing for @Sportsnet to have satellite trouble, just as Canada is on the verge of a huge Davis Cup win," wrote one user.
"Epic fail for @Sportsnet They have rights to show @DavisCup final where Canada is about to win for first time ever and apparently their satellite feed can't handle rain. Sportsnet has no business having rights to big Canadian moments! @TSN_Sports not much better but geez!" chimed in another user.
"This is such a shame that the satellite goes out before the end of the match. It would have been nice to see Canada win its face Davis Cup title. Do better," wrote another disappointed fan.
This also led to quite the responses to Sportsnet’s tweet announcing the result. However, it failed to satisfy the crestfallen fans who had missed the historic moment.
"So glad to be able to have watched the boys bring it ho- wait…," wrote a fan.
"We’ll take your word for it since you lost the feed and we couldn’t see it happen!!!" said another viewer.
"If only we could have seen The Historic Victory 😡 just brutal!! But thanks for the late to the party text," wrote a disappointed viewer.
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