YouTube TV consumers viewing the Boston Celtics fall to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals experienced technical difficulties in the fourth quarter. One of those people happened to be 98.5 The Sports Hub morning host Rich Shertenlieb, who detailed his experience Thursday morning on the hit program, Toucher & Rich.
“They went to a commercial with five minutes left in the game, and it locked on a Little Mermaid commercial,” Shertenlieb said. “I’m sitting there going, ‘Are you kidding me!?’ I even unplugged my internet and plugged it back in, thinking that was all screwy.”
Once Shertenlieb used his phone and checked social media, he saw many other YouTube TV users were complaining of similar issues – and it could not have happened at a worse time for basketball fans.
“It was only TNT that it happened with,” Shertenlieb explained. “I had to read the end of the game. Everywhere else, it was fine. Just the TNT feed! It blew it.”
Following user complaints, YouTube released a statement on Twitter, although it was after the conclusion of the contest. “If you have an issue watching the Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics game on TNT, we’re aware of it and our team is working on a fix – [thanks] so much for your patience!” it read.
NFL Sunday Ticket is moving to YouTube TV as part of a seven-year agreement this season. Consumers will pay $349 per year for the service. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared at the YouTube Brandcast event in New York City on Thursday to reveal additional programming and content to be created as part of the partnership. Fred Toucher is convinced it will be a failed experiment.
“I’m sure everything’s going to go real smooth this fall, I’ll tell you that,” Toucher said. “YouTube TV is going to blow the whole effing Sunday Ticket.”
Shertenlieb conveyed that he had never previously had an issue with YouTube TV and that it has been a great service, but after the glitch, he isn’t sure he wants to commit to buying a full season of Sunday Ticket from DirecTV.
“I want à la carte,” Shertenlieb replied. “Let me buy the games that I want because there’s only about four or five games that I really want to watch that aren’t already on TV.”
