Q. It was supposed to be a great sports night with the Brewers and Dodgers and the beginning of the NBA season. And I start to stream up my YouTube TV, but what happens? Disaster! I can’t access it. What the hell happened? It was out for a long, long time. — Tommy, Suitland, Maryland.
Tommy, you were not alone. YouTube TV, and all of the YouTube properties, including the Mother Ship, experienced an outage last night, causing dozens of thousands of people to post complaints on social media sites.
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“Really disappointing when my team is in the 8th I’m inning of a playoff game and it’s NBA opening night,” tweeted @Scott_Israel in one typical comment on Twitter.
The outage, which began around 9 p.m. ET, lasted roughly two hours, which indeed was unfortunate considering the Brewers and Dodgers were locked in a tense pivotal game four of the National League Championship Series.
Plus, as you note, Tommy, the NBA last night tipped off its 2018-2019 season with a host of excellent match-ups, including the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Thanks for your reports about YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube Music access issues. We’re working on resolving this and will let you know once fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will keep you updated,” YouTube’s Twitter customer service team tweeted at 9:41 p.m. ET last night.
At 11 p.m. ET, YouTube said the outage was over, although it never explained the cause.
“We’re back! Thanks for all of your patience. If you continue to experience issues, please let us know,” the service stated.
Some YouTube TV subscribers said the problem continued after that post, but most said all was well.
While the outage affected all YouTube users, the technical glitch was another reminder that live streaming services such as YouTube TV can be prone to picture interruptions and other technical inconveniences. The live streamers have improved in recent months, but the method of sending live signals over the Internet is still a work in progress.
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