Unfortunately, college football fans who watched the famed Red River Rivalry between nationally ranked Oklahoma and Texas didn’t get a chance to watch every play.
That’s because the cameras and audio had issues with flickering. And now, there’s a concern that the upcoming NFL Monday Night Football game will experience a similar issue since it became present on Saturday.
What’s Wrong With ESPN’s Cameras?
Fans will more than likely believe it’s the cable provider that’s causing the disruption. However, there’s a deeper explanation of why the cameras have flickered.
MORE: 2023 NFL Games Today/Schedule
But fans don’t need to pick up the phone and call their local cable provider or take back their televisions to Walmart, Best Buy, or wherever it was purchased.
The disruption, as noted by Front Office Sports, has more to do with the sun.
“For the next few days, the Earth and Disney satellite are in direct line with the sun — causing a ‘sun outage’ and brief interruptions on ESPN,” Front Office Sports explained on X on Saturday, which also showed a clip of Texas-Oklahoma blacking out.
Your TV isn’t broken.
For the next few days, the Earth and Disney satellite are in direct line with the sun — causing a “sun outage” and brief interruptions on ESPN:
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 7, 2023
Fans Vehemently React to Image Issues From ESPN Coverage of Red River Rivalry
The showdown between the legendary rivals sparked some strong reactions regarding the battle between TV and satellite.
Fans did not mince words toward the network.
“Biggest game of the year, and you can’t show a decent feed,” one fan posted directly to ESPN.
One, however, went with all caps.
@ABC @ESPN FIX THE FEED FOR THE TEXAS GAME!
— Monica Patterson (@mpatters28) October 7, 2023
In the end, the fans who stuck it out saw an epic conclusion as Oklahoma won off a final Dillon Gabriel touchdown lob to Nic Anderson with less than 45 seconds left.
ESPN Offers Explanation on Outage That Caused Scribbled Audio Lines
There was, though, one moment when the television screens had scribbled lines, indicating a loss of audio.
Per Jacob Feldman of Sportico, ESPN did explain what occurred there: It involved a brief moment involving the equipment on the field.
“There was a brief power issue at the Cotton Bowl that impacted our field equipment and on-site generator early in the game. It was quickly resolved,” the statement per Feldman read.
ESPN statement on choppy images during the Texas – Oklahoma broadcast:
“There was a brief power issue at the Cotton Bowl that impacted our field equipment and on-site generator early in the game. It was quickly resolved.”
So it might not have been a solar outage after all. pic.twitter.com/1XOMYo2kqt
— ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) October 7, 2023
But now, there’s new concern that the Monday Night Football contest between the Green Bay Packers and Las Vegas Raiders will soon witness TV disruption, impacting that NFL game.
