By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman

YouTube TV last night experienced a widespread technical snafu, preventing a large number of subscribers from watching shows such as the NBA playoff game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

Sports Illustrated reports that the outage occurred with four minutes left in the Celtics-Heat game after TNT went to a commercial break with the Heat up by five points. Then, a continuous loop of a commercial for the new The Little Mermaid movie came on screen and didn’t go off for eight minutes.

YouTube TV acknowledged the issue in a statement on Twitter:

“If you have an issue watching the Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics game on TNT, we’re aware of it & our team is working on a fix – thx so much for your patience!” the company tweeted.

However, The Little Mermaid spot stayed on until after the game ended, leaving fans furious. (The Heat won, 123-116.)

“‘I’m sure waiting to watch a basketball game is exactly how most people want to spend their valuable time. Thanks for reminding us of the importance of patience,” ‘Shing Ha.’ wrote sarcastically.

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“I’m a Celtics fan, I missed the last 4 minutes of the game, I only pay for YouTube TV because I want to be able to watch live sports. I need a refund for the entire month and for the next month as a sign of good will or I’m canceling the subscription and going back to cable,” tweeted @BostonJerry.

“A total disaster. You drop channels, including MLB Network, and raise the prices for that @YouTubeTV . Brutal, just brutal. Imagine this happening during the NFL season with Sunday Ticket. Or if Peacock craps out during this NFL playoff game,” added @Cgasper.

“Every time the little mermaid trailer restarted, i got progressively more angry. Lol,” added another upset fan.

One fan joked sarcastically that although he couldn’t watch the game, he became excited about watching The Little Mermaid.

“Gotta laugh to keep from crying man,” a fellow tweeter responded.

Downdetector.com, which tracks online outages, reports that roughly 15,000 people were complaining about the outage at the height of the problem, shortly after 10 p.m. ET.

The issues seemed to alleviate around midnight, according to social media posts.

This is the second time in a week that a live streaming service has suffered a technical meltdown during a NBA playoff game. Sling TV subscribers experienced the same problem last week.

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Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.

— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman